Hana Dow and the Dreamcatcher's Bow
by jocontemporary
Summary: Hana Dow is a young girl in Alabama living in an orphanage, in a room with nine beds, and dreams of a family and a world all her own. Then one day, a woman dressed all in rainbows comes to the orphanage with spectacular news - she is a witch! A witch with the opportunity to go to Ilvermorny School of Magic & Spellcraft and see a brand new world of magic and wonder.
1. The Little Girl and The Shadow Man

Dorothy Ringer was a kind woman, practically a ray of sunshine in an otherwise dull world. She also loved children. How could she not? You would need to if you wanted to run an orphanage, which she did, and she loved doing it. Children meant the world to her.

She was also normal.

So terribly yet wholesomely like everyone else. She often didn't think on it, but if she ever passed a character that wore anything other than old burgundy church clothes that smelt like moth balls and butterscotch or simple sundresses that looked like something a great-grandmother would've worn, well she would think them strange. Of course a person wouldn't often think of how normal they are if they were so naturally, so born to be, normal.

But that's exactly what Mrs. Ringer was, and nobody would change it for anything. With her big, warm smile, with her "How do you do?" perkiness, Mrs. Ringer was far from being worse off. If anything it was her charm, and how much she adored making people smile.

So it would come as a surprise to her that on a seemingly normal day, doing her normal things, living her normal life, that something very not normal should happen. Something that would make its way into her life, all because she was a kind woman. A completely average and ordinary woman.

She woke up on a Sunday in August. The Alabama sun shined down, not a cloud in sight. The worse kind of day for sad things to happen. Today she decided to wear a blue blazer with a nice yellow blouse underneath. After adding a petticoat, modest heels, and sun hat to her outfit, she was ready to go to church. Ten o'clock sharp. Stepping out of her meek, one story house, she closed her eyes and breathed in. She felt like walking today.

A butterfly resting on her mailbox fluttered up and began to fly near her. She laughed to herself and held her hand out. The butterfly landed on her hand and shook its wings. The pattern was peculiar, almost like it was a Rorschach drawing and like it was moving along the wings. The color was a lavender, but Mrs. Ringer could swear it turned violet and then to magenta before turning back into lavender. The butterfly lifted off her hand and flew away before she could think much of it. She shrugged and continued on her way.

As she walked down the street, meandering, she began to make a list for the day in her head. Immediately after church she had to go to the salon to have her hair and nails done. Next would be the groceries, yes. The orphanage had been running low on pudding, and Lord knows Sammy Wilson loves his pudding. She looked up at the sky, the sun glistening on her ebony skin, and she smiled.

She returned to look in front of her as she crossed the street, and could see a classy man - probably in his 30s. They nodded to each other. Then she got a closer look at him. Loose-fitting trench coat, a spruced up pin-stripe suit, shiny white shoes with a black wing-tip, a fedora hat slanted on his head. Why, he looked like he was ripped right out of Casablanca. Frank Sinatra would be impressed.

As he passed, her eyes followed him, giving him a once-over. Oh, she thought to herself, he's probably just wanting to look good for work today. Or maybe there's a decade-themed dress up? Why it's only a suit, and he looks rather dashing.

She saw him pass by another man, dressed almost identically to him. The two exclaimed to each other as they did. Though she was too far at this point to hear their conversation she could almost hear mention of a Tilly girl. She shrugged it off and continued on her day.

Church was wonderful, as it always was, she thought to herself. After the service was over, she walked across the street toward the strip mall and into the salon. Sitting down to wait her turn, she looked up at the old, small television hanging from the corner ceiling. It was a news channel, talking about a house explosion in the nearby town. She placed over her heart and sighed. "Aw."

"Oh Carol," a woman dressed in a plaid, shoulder-padded executive dress. She turned to the woman next to her in a floral-patterned sundress with puffy shoulder-pads. Carol looked up from her magazine and up to the T.V. her friend was pointing to. "That's what I was telling you about, that Lara Tilly who got blown up by her husband."

"Oh how sad," Carol replied.

"And that baby of hers, gone."

"No kidding?"

"Yeah, it's tragic. A witch that amazing, blown to smithereens by a no-maj, a scourer of all things."

No-maj? Scourer? Witch? Oh these women were being silly. And they were dressed silly, like they were from the 1940s. She even noticed that the woman named Carol had a newspaper with moving pictures for a brief second. She shook her head.

Just then Mrs. Ringer's name was called, and she was able to leave their odd conversation, which was unfortunate. If she hadn't she would've heard the two women discussing a strange dark shadow in the nearby woods and a peculiar wailing within them. She also narrowly missed a flock of ravens and owls passing by the salon window.

She wouldn't, however, miss the few birds left still flying by as she left the salon and toward the grocery store. The ravens may not have raised a brow, but so many owls in Alabama? Even this seemed strange to her. As she grabbed a cart and made her way to the entrance, she passed a loud woman shouting about her own church. Mrs. Ringer glanced at one of her banners, being held by a young boy. It read: "The Southern Salem Society". Mrs. Ringer rolled her eyes and kept pushing her cart. Just a bunch of crazies.

"Witches and wizards are gathering today!" Said the woman as Mrs. Ringer passed by. "Because one of their own has faced the judgement of her ways! This, the day of-" Mrs. Ringer walked inside the store and began her grocery shopping. Pudding and veggies, some more potato chips wouldn't hurt. And maybe she would make some shepherd's pie for dinner?

The lady was no longer standing out front when Mrs. Ringer finished her shopping and walked out of the store. She left the cart where she found it, picked up four plastic bags, and began making her way to the orphanage - Dorothy's House For The Young. It was a quaint, medium-sized brick building. It had a tower with a black roof and thunder-rodded spire. It had ten rooms and far too many children to fit in those rooms. Still, it was a home. A nice home, and many of the children thought it was as nice as any home should be.

It was five o'clock by the time she reached the orphanage, and she could hear the cheers and laughter of children that brought a smile to her face. As she approached the orphanage, she opened the small wooden gate attached to a white picket fence, and saw a butterfly sitting on one of the posts holding the gate open. She did a double take and briefly thought it looked like the same butterfly from this morning. She shook her head and chuckled. Of course not, that would be absurd. She closed the gate behind her and continued up to the house. The butterfly turned and kept its gaze on her as she walked, almost as though it was watching over her, guarding her.

Mrs. Ringer opened the front door and exclaimed her arrival, nodding and saying hello to her partner Ms. Brookes - a stone-faced, wrinkled, pasty and grey-hair woman who wore a long polka-dotted gown. Ms. Brookes grunted from her rocking chair as she knit. Children came racing down the stairs and loudly exclaiming their hello's to Mrs. Ringer, making Ms. Brookes mumble about the noise. Mrs. Ringer went into the kitchen, and began to prepare for dinner. As she did, something else was happening that day, something very un-normal. Something very strange, even for the witches and the wizards that had gossiped the day away, unbeknownst to the strange child to a strange mother who was spared the strangest of circumstances.

* * *

Deep in the woods, with what little light of the sunset was left, a man with a large black blanket bundled and strapped to his back ran. He had copper skin and long, straw-like black hair, and he wore a ripped black t-shirt with a faded jean jacket. He also wore a worn-and-torn red bandana over his mouth. He carried a rainbow covered bow with a thin, translucent string, and underneath the bundle of blankets was a sheath of arrows.

He kept up his pace, expecting to reach civilization before nightfall. Owls hooting gave way that he was running out of time. The skinwalker would be upon him soon enough. He slowed his pace long enough to bring out an arrow, and open a pouch attached to rope sling around his waist. He dabbed his index finger into it, and gently rubbed the sticky powder over the tip of the arrow.

As he neared the edge of the forest, he stopped. Silence. He looked off in the distance and could see the sun falling, the light of the day escaping the woods. He now could hear the chirping of locusts and he knew. A shapeless shadow moved between the trees, drawing nearer. He readied his bow and arrow, aiming forward. A massless darkness formed out of thin air, turning into a figure.

The figure moved forward, and soon the shadow covering its face revealed a man. A man that looked identical to the other - copper skin, long straw-like black hair. Only he wore long and flowing black robes.

He smiled coldly. "Hello, brother."

"You lost your right to call me that a long time ago, Nukpana."

"Oh please. You and I both know I've only ever done what's right for what the world has done to the both us."

"Snake."

"I could be a snake…" He chuckled. "Give it to me, brother."

"She," the man replied, "is a baby."

"A baby with an extraordinary destiny. I have seen it. The fate of the magical world, in the life of a child. Breathtaking."

The man kept the arrow pointed directly at his brother.

Nukpana chuckled. "You know there's nothing you can do to hurt me." He approached him now. "Or overpower me. So just give her to me."

He pulled the bow back. "You're right, I can't hurt you." He let the arrow go.

Nukpana dematerialized into grains and particles of blackness.

The arrow passed through, but trails of the gold dust from the tip of the arrow remained, stuck to the blackness. As he rematerialized, glowing gold veins shot through his face and robes. His face began to grow pale and he began to make choking sounds. Nukpana collapsed to the ground, clutching his abdomen.

His brother looked down at him, bringing his bow down. "I can stop you, though."

Nukpana sneered. "What did you do, brother?!"

"Sleep dust. Very simple, but it can be very effective with strong enough powder. Not enough to kill you or even to keep you, of all people, asleep for long. But enough to give me a head start."

Nukpana felt his eyes growing heavy, his muscles feeling strained. He looked up. "You can't protect her forever. One day, she will go where you cannot follow."

"Hopefully when that day comes, neither can you."

Nukpana shouted and groaned, and almost instantaneously he vanished. A shapeless shadow receded far into the forest. The sound of crickets and owls returning as they once did. The man released a breath he didn't know he had been holding. He nodded slightly, and then returned to what he had come here to do.

* * *

The lights were still on in the windows of Dorothy's House For The Young. This bode well for the man, as he came nearer, watching the street cautiously. The lights being on meant that there were still people awake, and people being awake was necessary to receive something. As the man approached the small picket fence, he saw a butterfly perched on a post holding the gate.

He lowered the bandana from his mouth and looked at the butterfly. "I see we both made it here in time."

The butterfly lifted up and before his very eyes, fluttered its wings to beckon dozens of colorfully vibrant butterflies. As the butterflies came together they made the shape of a woman with a dark shawl over a silky white blouse and lavender petticoat, a violet head scarf wrapped around her head and hiding a peak of her bright orange hair. The butterflies began to subside, and the woman's image became crisp, and clearer, until the woman was all that was there.

She gave an exasperated sigh. "You have no idea what it's like being an insect for over ten hours." She took off her headscarf and began folding it. Her short, yet untamed orange hair bounced over his cream skin.

"I'm sure it must've take an emotional toll on you."

She looked at him sternly. "That wasn't called for."

He rolled his eyes. "Apologies, ma'am."

""Ma'am"? Now you're just being rude." She opened the gate and the two walked through, coming up to the porch. "Now, I've watched over the proprietor of this shanty establishment all day, and I have to say you couldn't have picked a place worse. Completely… dull, and boring, the most no-maj of all the no-majs I've ever seen-"

"You haven't met any no-majs," he said, sharply.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Still, really, why this place? She belongs with her kind! It's not like she doesn't have any family left!"

"The only family she has left either want her dead or are the exact family she'll be expected to go to. She needs the protection of the no-majs in this place."

She looked at him. "In rural Alabama?"

"Yes," he turned to her. "He won't look for her where he won't expect us to leave her."

She crossed her arms and sighed.

"I know this is a hard time, but you know I'm right. This is the only place he won't look for her." He walked up to the front door, and let each strap holding the bundle of blankets together fall from his shoulders. He swung the bundle into his arms and looked down at the baby within it. "Besides, she's better off living away from magic, the attention." He looked up to the woman. "And it's not like you'll never see her again."

The baby cooed and briefly flutter her eyes open.

He looked back down and smiled. "Hello little one. Having nice dreams?" He shifted his position. "I should hope so."

The woman walked up to him, holding out an envelope. "Here." She stepped back as he took it, bringing her hands up to stop herself from crying.

He crouched onto the ground and placed the baby on the doormat, and the envelope on the bundle. "Good luck, little one, and think of nice things. Don't let the nightmares dim your light."

* * *

The doorbell rang as Mrs. Ringer finished cleaning the kitchen. Who could that be at this hour? The orphanage wasn't open? She walked to the front door and opened it. Nobody? She heard a stirring and looked down to see a bundle of blankets and inside…

"Oh! Good heavens! Georgina!" She bent down and picked the baby up. An envelope was placed on top of it, and Mrs. Ringer took it with a free hand as she scooped the baby into her arms.

Ms. Brookes came down the stairs and looked over to her. "What is it, Dorothy?"

"Come."

Ms. Brookes came up to her and gasped. "Is that a baby? Did somebody leave a baby on our porch?"

"Yes, here." Mrs. Ringer held out the envelope of Ms. Brookes.

Ms. Brookes opened the envelope and pulled out a crudely folded letter.

Mrs. Ringer swayed from side to side, and noticed something else was tucked inside the blankets. She moved the folds around to find an Indian dreamcatcher. She ponder over it, looking at it with her face scrunched up.

"Listen to this," said Ms. Brookes, looking thoroughly at the letter. "'Her name is Hana. Unfortunately I can't take care of her, but I have faith that you can. Love her, protect her, and above all else, teach her to have faith.'" She looked up to Mrs. Ringer. "There's no last name."

"Oh that doesn't matter, we'll give her the name we give all the kids in her situation."

"So 'Dow', then?"

"Yes. Hana Dow."


	2. Hana and the Rat

Ten years passed since the day Hana appeared on the front porch of Dorothy's House For The Young. In those ten years there were leaky roofs, a tree that crashed into the living room, and children coming and going day after year and year after year. But Hana, however, never saw a single family that didn't find something odd about her. In fact, not a single child Mrs. Ringer ever looked after was ever as odd as Hana was.

She couldn't even describe the events, but they almost always happened whenever a family was expecting to adopt the little girl. She wasn't sure how, and most certainly wasn't sure why, but Hana had to have been the source of the oddness. Once, a family that seemed to come from the wealthy side of town seemed interested, but the woman ran right out of the house with her voluminous blonde hair up in flames. That day, Hana sat alone in the parlor drawing, not wanting to talk about what happened.

The truth is, Hana didn't know how it happened. She just knew that when she first met that nasty woman all she could think of was how hot-headed she was and then all of a sudden the lady's hair caught on fire. She was just as shocked as they were, and a little scared when it happened. She just didn't want to look poor Mrs. Ringer in the eyes and try to explain something that didn't make sense to her. None of this made any sense to her.

Hana woke one morning in May to the sound of Ms. Brookes's shrill voice. "Up and at'em! Up and at'em! You've all got a busy day!"

Every day is a busy day, Hana thought to herself.

All the children, boys and girls, had chores to do, which changed every day according to Ms. Brookes's Chore Chart. Everyday, the children had to look at the chart to see what chores they had for the day and get to it before starting their lessons. The lessons, taught by Ms. Brookes, started just after lunch at 1:30 and went on and on until 4:30 and they had homework.

Hana wasn't exceptionally good at the lessons, she preferred looking out the window at paying attention to the birds or the clouds in the sky, or drawing pictures of things she'd see in her dreams. Ms. Brookes often had to snap her into attention, which Hana didn't like because Ms. Brookes could be very rude when she did so. After lessons, Hana liked to go into the parlor and start drawing or reading, often alone.

After being woken by Ms. Brookes once more, she and the eight other girls in her room filed out and began getting ready for the day. There were only three bathrooms - two were the best and the biggest, but one was a small and gross one. All the children, some of which were from five-years-old to about fourteen years, made a race to the best two and whoever was too slow would only be able to get the last one. Hana was a bit too slow this morning.

After taking her shower and brushing her teeth, Hana returned to her room and got dressed in her mustard yellow shirt and burgundy overalls, and tied her black, coil hair into pigtails that stuck up. She looked down at the dreamcatcher that hung from her bedside table's handle and smiled. She nodded to herself. Today was going to be a lovely day, she said to herself. She turned and skipped out of the room and down the stairs into the kitchen.

Most of the kids had already finished their breakfast and headed out to begin their chores. Ms. Brookes turned to Hana, a sneering frown perpetually on her face, and pulled out a wet plate from the rack next to the sink. "Hana."

Hana smiled big. "Hello Ms. Brookes."

"You're late to breakfast," she said as she slapped a heap of grits onto the plate "again." She then picked up three links of sausage that looked hard as stone and placed them on top of the grits.

"Well yeah, guess I just didn't get to the shower in time."

Ms. Brookes grunted as she took a slice of burnt toast and put it beside the grits and handed the plate to Hana. When Hana took it, she pulled out a wet spoon from the rack and handed it to Hana.

She nodded to Ms. Brookes and went to sit down at the long wooden table at the center of the kitchen, at the far side of the table.

A few of the kids finished their meals and stood up from the table. They briefly looked at Hana and then giggled to themselves, scurrying away to the sink and practically tossed the plates in before running out of the kitchen.

"Don't you dare run in this house!" Ms. Brookes shouted to them. "Do you pay these darn bills?"

Hana began to eat her breakfast, glad she wasn't those kids.

The rest of the day went on as it normally did everyday. She went to the Chore Chart in the hall and saw she was helping to care the lawn. This was a happy thing for her because she saw that Chloe, one of her only friends, was also caring for the lawn today. Chloe had come to the orphanage a few years ago and instantly came to liking Hana. The two spent a lot of time together whenever they were doing the same chore or whenever Chloe wasn't stuck doing something for Ms. Brookes after lessons were done.

Hana walked outside to the front yard and saw Chloe raking leaves.

Chloe looked up and smiled. "Hi Hana!" She said, her curly hazel hair falling onto her freckle-cheeked face.

"Hey Chloe!" One boy was already working the lawnmower and another was already cleaning the bird fountain. Hana shrugged and walked up the porch and took another rake. She walked down the steps and joined Chloe.

"I saw a butterfly earlier," Chloe said.

"Gosh really?" Hana said, looking up. "We hardly ever get butterflies out here."

"I know, it was pretty. And I could've sworn the colors on its wings changed color."

"That's silly."

They both laughed.

She and Chloe raked leaves for about an hour until it seemed the yard was about done. They went by the back of the house but could see the three kids doing the raking were about done. They saw a couple of other kids playing in the sprinklers at the corner of the yard and decided to go back into the house and get into swimwear. They rushed out back into the backyard and joined the kids in playing around the sprinklers until they were turned off about half an hour later.

The girls went back inside and put on their normal clothes, Hana deciding to wear a beige dress this time. She and Chloe went downstairs into the living room to play board games in the lounge - Candyland of course. What kind of crazy person plays anything but Candyland?

"You're cheating!" Chloe giggled.

"No I'm not!" Hana feigned outrage.

"I don't know how, but you are!"

Ms. Brookes came in to break up their play and come to lessons.

During their lessons, Ms. Brookes was teaching a math lesson. Hana hated math. She scribbled in her notebook as Ms. Brookes strolled by and snapped back to attention.

Ms. Brookes pointed at the board. "Do numbers one to ten, little miss."

Hana nodded to Ms. Brookes and sighed when she turned back to the front of the class. Hana looked at the chalkboard - how are there still places with chalkboard, she often thought to herself - and thought of how funny it would be if all that chalk dust just poofed into the air. Suddenly - POOF.

A thick white cloud filled the classroom and everybody began coughing and yelping. Some kids walked up and out of the room to escape the cloud of… chalk? Hana shook her head and chalk dust fell out of her hair. She looked down to see ashy, white chalk dust on her milk chocolate skin and she was stunned. Had she just thought of chalk dust poofing into the air and it really happened?

She looked up toward the chalkboard and it looked cleaner than it had ever been - and all of the writing that Ms. Brookes had done was completely gone. Some of the kids still in the classroom cheered, Ms. Brookes looked to it and stammered. She whirled around trying to find the culprit, only there was none. Still, she stared daggers at Hana. She knew it was Hana, somehow.

Chloe waved the chalk dust around excitedly. "This is so cool!" She laughed. "It's like magic!"

Ms. Brookes walked over to Hana and Chloe. She looked sternly at Chloe. "There's no such thing as magic!" She then turned to Hana. "You! Go to the kitchen and wash out the sink!"

"B-But…" Hana stuttered.

"Now!"

Hana stood up from her seat and made her way to the kitchen. She looked down at her hands. No, it wasn't possible. How could she have just made the chalk dust do that? Ms. Brookes was right, magic isn't real. But then, why did Ms. Brookes think she was responsible for what happened?

She kept wondering and wondering as she washed the sink. Chloe came over to her after an hour to check on her. "Even if you had done it, I think it'd be real cool if you could do magic." Chloe smiled brightly as she sipped a juice box from the fridge.

"I don't know," Hana said. "It might be cool. Maybe I'd be able to teleport myself anywhere I want."

"Yeah! Or eat as much candy as you want!"

"Or make myself a family that wants me…" Hana didn't realize she said that out loud.

Chloe walked up to her as she put the sponge down. "You'll find somebody, Hana." She smiled. "I just know it.

Hana and Chloe returned to the still dusty classroom after Hana finished washing the sink, about an hour before lessons would end. Ms. Brookes scolded Chloe for going to see Hana when she said she was using the bathroom, but nothing more than that. Hana looked out the window and sighed before going back to the work she was supposed to be doing

And it was like this almost everyday. That is, without the chalk dust getting everywhere. She'd wake up, do chores, go to lessons, and play board games or normal games with Chloe and the others. Hana would find it all so dull and boring - well she did - but something, a feeling, a thought in her mind that was small and fleeting, always told her not to feel bad about it. She didn't like being sad, and she didn't like feeling worse than sad. She also had a little bit of hope that one day her life wouldn't be so boring. That one day something magical might happen and she'd have lots of friends and a family that filled her life with something exciting.

* * *

"Hana!" Ms. Brookes shouted from the hall one day shortly after lessons.

Hana walked out into the hall with Chloe walking beside her.

Ms. Brookes looked at Chloe. "Why are you here?"

"We were playing cards," Chloe said.

"Well now you're not. Shoo." She turned to Hana. "A nice couple would like to speak with you." She turned and began walking down the hall.

Hana and Chloe turned to each other and squealed. Ms. Brookes shouted back at Hana.

"Do you think they'll like me?" Hana said to Chloe.

"They're gonna love you!" She hugged Hana. "Good luck!"

Hana turned to Ms. Brookes who was down the hall. She breathed in, and then out. She skipped down the hall and turned to the door Ms. Brookes gestured to. Hana knew this door several times. She usually walked out disappointed from this door. She paused for a moment, then shook her head and opened it.

Mrs. Ringer was sitting at a desk, her back to the door, talking to a lovely couple - a man with a buzzcut and salt and pepper hair and a woman with caramel-colored skin. "Well everything seems to look alright," she turned around holding a manilla folder and smiled at Hana. "And it looks like she's right here!" She stood up and beckoned Hana to sit down. "This is Hana, she's a bright young girl."

The two said their "Hello"s and Hana smiled brightly. She saw that they were holding another manila folder that had her picture in it. They closed the folder fairly quickly and placed it on the table, but she could make out the word "abandoned" scrawled in its notes. Her smile wavered briefly but she managed to keep it up.

"It's nice to meet you, Hana," the woman said with a cheery smile.

"We've heard a lot about you from this lady," the man said, his smile didn't look so genuine.

Mrs. Ringer made a modest, humbled gesture.

He laughed and winked at Mrs. Ringer. Hana got a strange feeling off of him. When he looked at her she felt his stare lingered on her, passed her over up and down. She kept smiling, still.

"You all just talk, mingle, get to each other." She clasped Hana's shoulders, leaned down and whispered "Good luck, girl!" She shook her excitedly, then turned and left the room.

Barely five minutes had passed since the door had closed when suddenly startled shouts, frantic squeaking and jeers came from within. Ms. Brookes hopped up and ran to the door, opening it just as the woman came running out screaming and in tears. Mrs. Ringer rushed out of the kitchen as the woman ran down the hall.

"What kind of freaks do you keep here?!" She threw the front door open and rushed out.

Mrs. Ringer looked back to Ms. Brookes. "What happened?"

Ms. Brookes's shocked face returned to stoic and unreadable. "I-I don't know."

Mrs. Ringer came up to the room to see the table upturned to the side and the man sprawled out on the floor. He was drenched in sweat and looked pale with a look of utter shock on his face. Hana had her face in her hands and was crying.

"Sir," Mrs. Ringer said. "Are you alright?"

"I was a mouse…" He said.

"You-" Mrs. Ringer blinked and took a step forward. "You were a what?"

"A mouse…"

"A mouse?"

"Yes…" He pointed to Hana. "That… That freak! She turned me into a mouse!"

Mrs. Ringer put her arms around Hana. "Sir how dare-"

"I don't know how! But I just asked her a question and she turned me into a mouse! Lady there knows, she saw me turn back to normal!"

Mrs. Ringer and Hana looked to Ms. Brookes. Ms. Brookes saw the tears streaming from down Hana's face.

"No, sir," Ms. Brookes said, assuredly. "Why I'm quite sure you made it up."

The man shook his head.

"The nerves must've gotten to you, maybe a glass of iced-"

"I didn't! That little witch turned me into a freaking mouse! I know she did! Who else could've done it?!"

"Sir," Mrs. Ringer said, firmly. "I think you should leave."

He bolted up to his feet, looked at Hana, then to Mrs. Ringer and Ms. Brookes. He pointed at the two of them. "I'm suing. I'm suing you…. You crazy hicks! For all this shack is worth!" He stormed out and slammed the front door behind him.

That night, when Hana got out of bed to use the bathroom she overheard Ms. Brookes and Mrs. Ringer talking about her. She leaned over the second floor banister to listen closely.

"...we should probably just accept at this point that Hana's not a girl who's getting adopted." It sounded like Ms. Brookes.

"No," Mrs. Ringer said. "I am not giving up on that little girl."

Ms. Brookes snorted.

"She came into this world with nobody to love her. I am not gonna see her leave it the same way. A child needs a family. A child needs love, else they'll be grown persons without it. The last thing she needs in her life is no love."

"Well," Ms. Brookes said. "Maybe she will find it, just not here. Just not now."

Hana backed away from the banister, looking down at the ground, at her toes. She quirked her mouth and kept walking to the small bathroom. She locked it and turned on the light. She looked in the mirror and could see tears were beginning to well in her eyes. She walked up to the mirror and wiped them. They're wrong, she thought, I will find love, and a family.

She finished using the bathroom and returned to her room and to her bed. Chloe stirred up after hearing Hana come back.

"It's okay, you know?"

Hana looked to her. "What?" She whispered.

"I bet they were jerks anyway." Chloe placed her head back onto her pillow. "That couple. They probably wouldn't have been a good mommy and daddy."

"I know," Hana said.

"Someone will see how awesome you are, Hana. I just know it."

* * *

The next day a nice looking couple came to see Chloe. They positively loved her, thought she was a delight. Hana sat at her bed all afternoon reading the books Ms. Brookes had assigned during lessons, waiting for Chloe to finish meeting with them.

Chloe practically bolted into the room and scrambled to her bedside table. "Hana! You're not going to believe it!"

Hana looked up. "What?"

"They liked me! I think they're going to adopt me!" She took her clothes out from the bedside table. "I mean, I'll be living with them for a little bit to see if we both like it. But they're so nice Hana! Nicer than anyone, you would love them!"

"Uh-huh…" Hana blinked and looked down back at her book, trying to focus on the words instead of how she was feeling. She was happy for Chloe, she had to be happy for Chloe. She looked back up with a smile on her face. "That's great Chloe."

Chloe looked up and smiled softly. She walked over to Hana and hugged her tightly.

Hana hugged her tightly as well and the two shared silent tears.

Chloe separated first, breathing out sharply. "Now, give Lucas a hard time for me. He's a jerk, you know."

Hana gave a laugh and shook her head.

"The cookies I steal from Ms. Brookes are on the top of the fridge. She thinks I don't know how to get them down, but I do. Use the step ladder in the pantry she thinks nobody can get into."

"Chloe, I'll be fine." Hana said.

"I know. Out of everybody here, you'll be the most fine." She folded up her clothes. "But also, Hana, don't stop being awesome. It's what I like about you."

The family did adopt Chloe, and Chloe never did come back a single day after then. Hana looked out from the second story window as the car pulled away. Chloe waved at Hana, and Hana did the same. Hana decided to stay in the room for the rest of the day, looking out from the window and wondering when the day she'd be whisked away by someone that wanted her as much. Later the next night, after spending another day mostly in the room, Mrs. Ringer came in.

"Hey, girl," she said, smiling warmly when Hana looked up. "How about you come downstairs for a change?"

"Why?" Hana said. "So I can turn another family into toads?"

Mrs. Ringer chuckled. "Just come down, sweetie."

The lights were dim when they came down the stairs and into the kitchen. Everyone in the house was gathered around the long wooden table and a round, chocolate frosted cake sat at the edge of it. Hana smiled and hopped over to it. She forgot it was her birthday.

"Happy eleventh, sweetie," Mrs. Ringer said.

Hana looked down at the cake with eleven pink burning candles in it. Hana could tell that Mrs. Ringer made it herself, and that it was probably a gluten-free carrot cake. She didn't much care, though. Mrs. Ringer was so undeniably sweet. Ms. Brookes placed a silver and pink stripped birthday hat on top of her frizzy hair, and Hana could tell that Ms. Brookes was happy despite that sneer she always had on.

She stared intently at the cake as everybody sang "Happy Birthday", wondering what she was going to wish for. A new book? Maybe that Nintendo Switch? A twenty dollar bill?

"...Happy birthday to you!" Everyone sang.

Hana breathed in and blew out the candles on the cake.

Everyone clapped their hands and cheered.

Ms. Brookes pushed Hana aside and started cutting the cake, giving Hana the biggest piece, and a fork. Hana walked aside near the sink as she dug into her cake. Mrs. Ringer walked up to her with her own plate of cake.

"So, Hana," Mrs. Ringer said. "What did you wish for?"

Hana put a hand over her mouth as she swallowed. She returned her fork to the cake. "Can't tell."

Mrs. Ringer raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"It'll ruin the magic!"

Mrs. Ringer laughed. "Alright, hun. Happy birthday." She placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's been a rough couple of days, sweetie. But I know you've been a real trooper. You'll get there. Don't you be worryin' none."

Hana nodded. "Thank you, Mrs. Ringer. I know it."

Mrs. Ringer returned to help manage the unruly kids with Ms. Brookes.

Hana knew she didn't want to tell Mrs. Ringer what she wished for anyway. She wished for a friend. For someone who would wait for her, who would love her in every magical way.


	3. The Letter and the Lady In Rainbows

Mrs. Ringer came to the orphanage precisely at five o'clock as she usually did and entered the house. When she stepped into the kitchen and placed the bags of groceries on the counter, the chime of the doorbell rang out. She and Ms. Brookes, sitting at the long wooden table, looked at each other precariously. Nobody was scheduled to come over today.

Mrs. Ringer walked to the front door to see a woman in a short pink shawl draped over a dazzling rainbow colored executive coat and skirt that reached knee length. She wore lavender gloves that seemed to sparkle, and had a sunflower embroidered on the back of each of them and also donned thigh-high black boots. Her vibrant orange hair was short, but still untamed with a petite crimson top hat adorned with flowers and colorful butterflies.

She smiled brightly and dipped her head somewhat. Mrs. Ringer noticed she was also carrying a quite ornate opal-made cane with an shiny opal gem at its top. The woman was also carrying a carpet bag with an odd design - did it look like it was from an Arabic ornamental rug? She looked the strange woman up and down, and her mouth simply held open.

"Hello," the strange woman said. "My name is Callica West. How do you do?"

Mrs. Ringer blinked, baffled, but changed her expression to her usual warm smile. "H-Hello." She held her hand out and the woman took it, shaking fervently.

"I hate to sound dim, but this is Dorothy's House For The Young is it not?"

"No no, it is."

"And you're Dorothy?"

"Why… yes I am."

"Perfect!" She squeed, then quite deliberately pushed herself inside past Mrs. Ringer.

"Wh- Now-"

"I have had quite a busy day! This address is so small, why I could barely find it." The woman sighed, chuckling a little to herself. She placed her bag at the door, took her hat and her shawl and hung them on the coat rack. She saw that Ms Brookes had come out of the kitchen and waved to her. "Hi."

"Miss…" Mrs. Ringer said as she closed the front door.

"West." She responded.

"Yes… Miss West."

"Can we help you?" Ms. Brookes said. Shrugging, as though this should normal, to Mrs. Ringer.

Miss West turned to Ms. Brookes. "Why yes, I'm here to see one of your children."

"Well, I have my binder in my office," Mrs. Ringer said. Miss West turned back to her intently. "Here, come with me I'll-"

"Oh, no no. No need for that Dorothy." Miss West said.

Mrs. Ringer looked back to her, a bit questioningly.

"I see there's much to explain. Where shall we sit?"

* * *

Hana came into the living room after having spent most of her day in the parlor and saw several kids grouped at the edge of the doorway looking out into the hall. She walked up behind the group to peer out into the hall and saw there were even some kids peering into the hall from the stairs, everyone looking exactly at one door - Mrs. Ringer's office.

"What's going on?" Hana said.

"Some weird lady came in today," one boy said.

"Wearing this weird rainbow cover dress."

Hana looked over to the coat rack and saw a pink shawl and a weird red hat with flowers and butterflies on it. She also saw and even weirder looking carpet bag. What was this lady, Mary Poppins?

She looked back over to the door as it opened and Mrs. Ringer and Ms. Brookes walked out. Mrs. Ringer looked a bit befuddled and out of it. Almost as though she just had the most bizarre experience of her life, and still had trouble handling it. She walked down the hall toward the kids parked near the living room and started making her way to the kitchen. She briefly glanced at Hana and scrunched her brow even tighter in confusion as she continued into the kitchen.

"Hana," Ms. Brookes said.

Hana looked over at Ms. Brookes as the strange orange haired woman moved past behind her toward the other meeting room.

"There's someone here to see you."

The woman briefly glanced her way, grinning proudly.

For Hana it was like time slowed as the two met eyes, and for once Hana felt a sense of familiarity and wonder she hadn't felt in a very long time. As Hana moved forward, the other kids parted the way and Hana, for once, felt immensely drawn to that room that only ever held unhappiness and disappointment. She walked over to the door and looked at Ms. Brookes.

The old woman shook her head, but this time there was no sneer, just a look of abject dumbfoundedness. She patted Hana on the shoulder and moved down the hall, shouting at the kids to stop staring. As the children left the hallway, Hana turned to the room, where the strange lady sat with her back to the entrance.

Hana went in, closing the door behind her, and moved around to the other side, sitting in the empty seat in front of the lady. The lady looked at her, seeming to be examining her. Trying to memorize every inch of her.

She then smiled, and poised herself shoulders up, bringing her elbows up onto the table and resting her head onto her hands. "Hello, Hana."

"Hi there, Miss…"

"Miss West!" She chuckled a bit. "Gosh diddly! Where are my manners?" She removed her gloves, revealing pristinely manicured nails with rainbow polishing popping. She held out her hand dainty.

Hana took it and shook.

"Nice, firm grip there!" She placed both her hands onto the table. "How has your day been?"

"Fine, I guess."

"You guess? How could you not know? Well either it's been a good day or a bad day, you know it by the smell of the air."

"The what?"

"The smell of the air, the taste in the water, the well in your eyes when you've heard either the best news or the worst. You simply just know. So, has it been a good day, or a bad one?"

Hana blinked, and squinted her eyes. She then pursed her lips. "Good."

"Atta girl." Miss West shifted in her seat. "Now, do you know why I'm here, Hana?"

Hana shrugged. "To adopt me?"

Miss West chuckled. "Something like that." She opened her coat and pulled out a thin, light, beige envelope. "Here."

Hana took the envelope. It felt like parchment paper. She looked at it, seeing the address in what looked like old-fashioned black ink:

 **Ms. Hana Dow**

 **A Room of All Girls and Nine Beds**

 **Dorothy's House For The Young**

 **Huntsville, Alabama**

The return address was labeled "Mount Greylock, Massachusetts" and signed "M.A.C.U.S.A."

Hana looked up at Miss West, who had an excitedly expectant look on her face. Hana looked back down to the envelope. She had never had a letter addressed to her before, nor an address so specific. How did this sender know she lived in a room with eight other girls? How did this lady know she did? And Massachusetts? "M.A.C.U.S.A."?

She opened the envelope and took out a single sheet of paper, nothing else was inside except for a pin that fell out when she took out the letter. It was an odd pin with an insignia etched with four even more odd-looking animals. She unfolded the letter and read it to herself:

 **ILVERMORNY SCHOOL FOR MAGIC & SPELLCRAFT**

Headmaster: Agilbert Fontaine

 _Dear Ms. Hana Dow,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you've been accepted to ILVERMORNY SCHOOL FOR MAGIC & SPELLCRAFT. This letter is not the only materials we've enchanted to your acceptance letter. This is only to inform you of your acceptance one day after your eleventh birthday on the first of June. You may, however, choose not to accept our invitation to join our wonderful school for bright young witches and wizards, as we here at Ilvermorny believe in the journeys our students take to becoming the best magic users they can be._

 _If you choose not to accept, please place the pin that dropped out of the envelope when you took out this letter, back into the envelope. Our ward officer, who overlooks all of our students who do not have families of their own to claim them, will kindly and understandably take your envelope and leave you be to tread your path as you see fit. If, however, you do choose to accept our invitation to attend Ilvermorny, please place the pin onto any article of clothing on your persons and the rest of the materials enchanted to this letter will be available to you._

 _Signed,_

 _Your Headmaster Agilbert Fontaine_

"Ill-ver-" Hana stammered. "Ill...ver...morn- Magic? What?" She looked up at Miss West, still grinning. "What is this? A joke?"

Miss West chuckled.

"So it is then? Witches and wizards? Real funny, you're a mean old lady!"

"Old?" She seemed taken aback by this.

"Goodbye, Miss." Hana threw the letter down and made to get up.

"Wait!" She waved her hands frantically and Hana stopped, looking at her pointedly. Miss West seemed shocked at Hana's outrage. "Wait, wait, Hana. Just sit down."

Hana huffed and sat back down.

"Yes, Hana. Magic is real."

Hana scoffed. Another someone, calling her a weirdo.

"Magic _is_ real, and it's all around us. And only a few of us can really use it."

"Like you?"

Miss West shrugged, humbly. "Yes. Yes, me."

Hana chuckled this time. "Prove it."

Miss West took in a breath and pulled out a weird looking gold coin from her coat pocket. She held it up, to show it to Hana. It had an insignia of a dragon on it, with the words "DRAGOT" scrawled in small letters over the top. She looked Hana in the eyes and took her hand off it - the coin remaining in midair.

Hana gasped and stared at the coin. It just hovered there, no strings, nothing making it stay suspended. It was just floating. Not even, just remaining still, high above the tabletop. Then it changed shape, morphing into a hummingbird. Hana leaned forward, looking at this gold hummingbird in marvel, smiling wide. It flittered over to her, its beak lightly touching her nose.

"Oh… my god…" Hana said almost like a whisper.

It then flew backward and melted onto the table, the golden goop slowly turning into a long boa constrictor, coiling up and around Miss West. The head of the snake came around to the side of her face, and its tongue flicked her cheek. Miss West smiled and giggled from its touch. Its head then fell into the palm of her hand as its whole body retracted up and around Miss West. Its entire form shrinked into her hand and there, in its place, was the coin still intact. Miss West placed the coin back into her pocket, and then folded her hands in on the table. She looked at Hana, raising her eyebrows cockily.

Hana didn't say anything for a bit, still trying to process what just happened.

"And…" she began. "I can do all of that?"

Miss West shrugged. "Well, with proper training and excellent precision and timing, girl, you can do anything you want." She winked. "That was just a sneak peek."

Hana shook her head in disbelief. This was beyond anything she'd ever seen. She then furrowed her brow. "I…" She let out a breath. "I'm not sure you'd want me."

Miss West blinked in surprise. "We… We sent you a letter?"

"Yeah but… weird things happen around me." Hana shrugged. "People catch fire, turn into mice, explode. I'm not exactly normal."

Miss West looked at her for a moment, then broke out into loud, chortling laughter.

"It's true!"

"Oh! Ohoho!" Miss West waved her arm in a sweeping motion. "My dear, it's a magic school! People catch fire all the time! People turn into mice on purpose! You'd get a detention at the worst, honey. These things just happen." She continued laughing, and brought out a handkerchief to dab her eyes.

"So… You wouldn't think I'm weird?"

Miss West gestured to her outfit. "Sweetheart, who cares about weird? Normal is such a drag!"

Hana laughed now, releasing a tension in her upper body she didn't know she was carrying. A school where she didn't have to worry about setting people's hair on fire? Or turning them into animals? It sounded like a dream come true!

After laughing for a few more minutes, Miss West steadied her breath. "Now, sweetie. How about it? Sound like something right for you?"

Hana steadied her shoulders and then looked down at the letter. She picked up and read it again. She then looked at the pin, then back to the letter. She supposed there was no reason not to. She'd only get odd looks and more parents coming and going, remarking on her oddity. And she was only going to get older, the less anyone would even think of adopting her. And it was magic. Actual magic. And other people who could do magic! Something odd she had in common with people! How great it would be, to be in a world she'd only read in books and dreamt of!

She put the letter down and picked up the pin. She was certain there was no going back from this, but it would still be amazing. She unfastened the back of it and stuck it onto her shirt, then re-fastened it. The pin seemed to glow and vibrate now briefly. Miss West smiled even bigger. Hana looked up to her.

"Now what?"

"Look in the envelope."

Hana looked back to the envelope and sure enough she could see something else was inside it. Funny, she swore it was just the letter and the pin… Actually she swore she had just seen the letter and the pin just appeared. She picked up the envelope and opened the new letter. It read:

 _Congratulations on taking your first step toward your journey here at Ilvermorny! We are one of eleven prestigious schools registered by the International Confederation of Wizardry, and are in fact well known for alchemy and divinations. But don't worry, there is still plenty to do and plenty to study in our vast and unique curriculum. Our ward officer will explain everything you need to know about Ilvermorny's regular environment and extracurricular activities, as she herself is a professor here._

 _Enclosed in this letter is your list of school supplies, able to be purchased courtesy of the Financial Board of the Magical Congress of the United States of America. They are as follows:_

 **UNIFORM & EQUIPMENT**

 _First-year students will require:_

Five sets of cranberry-colored robes

One pair of protected gloves (dragon-hide or similar)

One winter cloak, cranberry-colored of course.

Standard flying broom

A black iron cauldron

 **COURSE BOOKS**

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them by Newt Scamander

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

A Basic Spellwork Guide by Rudolph Willowmaker

Transformative Work To Spellcasting (First Grade) by Veila Drake

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

The Alchemist's Encyclopedia To Harvesting The Earth by Woodroe Hunt

How To Defend Yourself and Fight Back: Basic Dueling by Eleanor Palsy

 _Students are allowed one of any number of pets so long as they meet the school registrar guidelines for magical pets explicit in the M.A.C.U.S.A. Domestic Animal Registry. ADDENDUM: this, however, does exclude fire drakes, due to their being considered hazardous on school property. Crups are allowed but only with strict supervision by its caretaker._

 _As mentioned, if you have any other questions feel free to ask the ward officer. Miss Callica West is our esteemed Transformative Magic professor, and one of the best ward officers working for M.A.C.U.S.A.'s Magical Ward Division and will act as your guide into this fantastic magical world. Please be courteous, and thirst for magical learning! This will surely be the first step in your magical journey, one that will be a ride you won't soon forget!_

 _Also signed,_

 _Your Headmaster Agilbert Fontaine_

Hana looked up from the letter. "So where do we go get this stuff? Some shop?"

"Why, exactly some shop!" Miss West exclaimed, laughing. She stood up from her chair, bringing her cane up and standing up tall with it. "Now, how fast can you pick up your things?"

Hana excitedly bounced up, picking up the other letter and stuffing both letters into the envelope. "Real fast!" She clutched the envelope close to her.

"Excellent! Go, go!"

Hana dashed out of the room and into the hall, straight up the stairs. Miss West strolled out of the room, looking on after Hana as she practically bolted up the stairs, laughing to herself. She remembered being that young and the rush of excitement at receiving her own Ilvermorny letter. It was a much different time then, she then felt melancholy, her thoughts drifting to other people briefly. She shook her head. Today is not the day for the past. It was a day for someone else's future.

Hana ran up into her room and pulled out a small, square luggage bag. All the children had these, in case it was their adoption day. It may as well have been her own adoption day, she got something better. A school! A magical school! That wanted her! She threw in her worn and torn clothes haphazardly, not caring to fold them. She wanted to go as soon as she could. She also threw in her Gameboy and two favorite books. She closed her luggage and sped off so fast that she forgot about the dreamcatcher that still hung from the handle of her bedside table.

Miss West was waiting at the front door wearing her pink shawl and crimson hat, now carrying her carpet bag. Ms. Brookes looked at her, disapprovingly. Hana practically hopped down the stairs. Ms. Brookes snapped.

"Don't skip down the stairs!"

Hana sighed and shrugged her off.

"She's right, you know," Miss West said, with a smirk. "Sometimes stairs can move."

Ms. Brookes huffed.

"Really?" Hana exclaimed.

"Yeah," Miss West said. She shrugged. "But that's more of a Brit thing." She opened the front door and titled her head toward it. "Shall we go?"

Hana looked at the door, and for some reason found herself hesitating again. She saw Mrs. Ringer hovering by the kitchen doorframe, looking at her. She seemed happy for her, but also sad. She smiled, but a feigned smile, as though she just wanted Hana to feel she was alright.

Hana walked up to Mrs. Ringer and hugged her tightly. "I'll miss you, Mrs. Ringer."

"Oh baby, don't you miss me." She crouched down and held her shoulders. "You're goin' on to great things like I always knew you would. That's all somebody like me always hopes for. I want all my kids to be great. It's all I ever wanted, is to know it for certain." She placed a kiss on Hana's forehead. "Goodbye, Hana."

Hana stepped away when Mrs. Ringer stood back up. She turned to Ms. Brookes, then rushed over to her to give her a tight hug.

"Ugh," Ms. Brookes said. It sounded to Hana as though she were fighting back tears. "Don't get into as much trouble as you did here." She waved her hands as though she was shooing Hana away.

Hana giggled. She stepped back and turned to look at the both of them. "Bye." She waved, meekly. They waved after her

Then she turned and walked out of the door to the house she had lived in for ten years. No family to speak of, and no normal person to share this all with. She stepped off the porch and onto the pebbles and gravel of the front yard. She breathed in, then out, then quirked her mouth as she looked up at Miss West, now beside her.

Miss West looked down at her. "You ready?"

Hana nodded her head vigorously.

Miss West laughed. "Okay, okay. Now then…"

A raven flew by and planted itself on the mailbox on the other side of the gate. Miss West noticed it, and walked over to it, opening the creaky gate. Hana followed her. Miss West walked up to the raven and it crowed and clucked at her.

"Why yes very well, how do you do?"

The raven crowed and clucked some more.

"Goodness is that so?" She took out a pocket watch and looked at it. She gasped. "Oh dear that is the time! The offices won't be open much longer, oh and there's still so much to do!" She looked back at the raven. "Thank you, dearie. Take care." The raven flew off as she put the watch back in her pocket and walked to the edge of the sidewalk.

Hana followed her. "You speak raven?"

"No the raven speaks English, sweetie." She looked down the street, left and right.

Hana furrowed her brow. That didn't really answer her question.

Miss West held her arm out in front of Hana. "Stand back, sweetie." Hana did. She then stuck her right thumb out and balanced herself on her left leg. She give a fierce whistle that echoed down the street. A rumbling came, and Miss West stood normally, backing Hana up a bit more.

A car honk sounded in the distance and suddenly Hana could see down the street a gaudy looking yellow taxi driving up, coming up real fast. As it passed by them, it pressed hard on the brakes, making a loud screeching noise and smoke fumes billowed out from under it. The sign on top of the hood of the car read in big bold letters "KRAZY KAB". A caramel skinned man peered out from the driver's side, waving expressively at them. "Howdy-do folks!" His eyes bulged behind his sunglasses. "Why if it isn't Miss Callica West!"

"Hello Jeremy," she replied. "Have another charge today."

"Those warding offices close at 6:30 stat today you know," he said. "A Jewish holiday I hear."

"Eh, everything's a Jewish holiday." She shrugged. "You think you can get us to Saglant Square in time?"

"In time?" He laughed. "Sweetness, this cab was made for in time!"

She laughed as well. "Perfect." She gestured to Hana. "Hana, this is Jeremy Amir. He runs this shanty little transportation service."

"Hello Mr. Amir," Hana said.

"Please!" He said. "Mr. Amir is my no-maj dad! Just call me Jeremy!" No-maj? "And also a very custom Salaam to you, Hana." What's no-maj mean?

"Come on, Hana. Into the cab."

Hana had no time to ponder on the word as Miss West ushered her into the cab, which was surprisingly bigger inside than it looked outside. It seemed more like a limo than a cab. Miss West took the other side of the passenger compartment across from Hana.

Jeremy's face slid out from the window separating the driver and passenger compartments. "You two ready for takeoff?" Miss West nodded and he returned to the front.

"Takeoff?" Hana said.

"Oh yeah." Miss West nodded.

And quite literally, they did. As soon as he shifted into gear, the cab lurched forward and Hana was thrown into Miss West, who laughed as soon as it happened.


	4. Saglant Square

Hana righted herself back into her seat as Miss West took out one of her funny coins, only this one was silver, and put it into a slot into the cab door. Out popped a newspaper and she took, opened it, and began reading.

Hana merely glanced at it before moving her eyes across the entire, impossibly large backseat of Jeremy's cab. It didn't look this big from the outside, she thought. Or was it? She wasn't entirely sure. Inside the cab also looked much more finer and trimmed than the outside did, which had been so beat up, she was surprised it was still running at all. But inside the cab, the carpet was lined with a finely oriental rug with deep, rich colors. The ceiling and walls were covered, every inch, in velvet and the seats were soft and feathery. It was like she was riding in luxury.

Then Hana noticed something moved in front of the newspaper. She looked at it again and gasped. Nothing was moving in front of the newspaper but… in it? How was that possible? Moving pictures? The picture on the front page of the Monday Medium (funny, it wasn't Monday today?) was a woman riding a broom through a field surrounded by large stands. The headline read: "IRISH WIN AGAIN!" She thought she could make out a word… "quidditch"? What a silly word, but then again it looked like a silly game.

"Ah," Miss West said. "Goblins in Saxsville Row staging another protest?" She turned backward to the driver window. "I swear, goblins'll make a fuss if you don't even give them a single ogpot."

"I wouldn't worry none, they're just trying to make a living. Eventually, they'll calm themselves down like they normally do when their treasuries and stocks go down. They need us wizards' business to keep their pockets happy."

"I know, it just seems so counterproductive to their own interests. You'd think running the banks would be enough to keep 'em happy. But, well, this is the era of being up in arms about something." Miss West returned to the newspaper.

"Goblins are real?" Hana said, a bit worried.

"Oh yes sweetie. They run the wizard banks."

"There are wizard banks?"

"Yes of course, dear," she chuckled. "How do you think we can afford to go to wizard schools?"

"How many dollars is it to go to a wizard school?"

Both Miss West and Jeremy laughed.

"Dollars!" Jeremy hooted.

Miss West caught herself. "We don't pay dollars."

Hana raised an eyebrow. "Then what do we pay?"

Miss West went into her coat pocket and pulled out three coins - one small bronze one with an etching of a serpent-looking dragon with its long body winding and curling around itself, a slightly bigger silver one with the etching of a three-headed dragon, and a bigger gold coin, the one she saw earlier. Miss West pointed at the gold one. "This is a dragot, also a general term for our currency. It's the most valuable of the bunch so it's always best to have these handy." She then pointed to the silver one. "A hydrot, a lot of your school supplies will require it so we'll be getting a good plenty of those when we get you squared away." She then pointed to the bronze one. "This is an ogpot, least valuable but still useful when you're hammering out the bill, for taxes." She shrugged as she returned them to her pocket.

"I get dragots, too?"

Miss West nodded. "Courtesy of M.A.C.U.S.A."

"You keep saying that… 'mah-coo-za' but like what is that?"

"The Magical Congress of the United States of America." Miss West pressed a hand on the left side of her chest.

Hana blinked. "What's that?"

Miss West blinked this time. "Why, the government."

"Isn't it just the United States…?"

"No," she laughed. "No sweetie. It's the name of our magical government. You're no longer a citizen of the United States, but of the magical United States. As such, when you became a ward of the magical state."

"Oh…" Hana was still confused, but she nodded her head still. "And are there fifty states?"

"Of course."

"The-"

"The same fifty states, yes."

"Oh." Hana shrugged her shoulders and swung her feet.

Miss West nodded.

There was an awkward silence for a bit.

"So these… M.A.C.U.S.A. people… why are they giving me money?"

"Well, like I said, you're a ward of the magical state, which means they fund your education. So, you're being given a handsome sum of money, only to be used to purchase things for school and on school property. With my supervision, of course."

"And we're going to M.A.C.U.S.A. to get it?"

Miss West tilted her head side to side. "Pretty much." She looked out the window. "Ooh." She gripped the armrest. "Hold onto something."

Just then, the cab came to an abrupt stop and Hana lurched forward again.

"Boy!" Jeremy shouted. "Could've stuck the landing better!"

Hana got up and Miss West opened the cab door. She gestured for Hana to go first and followed after her when she did. Hana held her luggage tightly as she found herself in… was this New Orleans? A familiar French Quarter she'd seen in dozens of movies and TV shows. But why were they here? How were they here? She turned back to Miss West who handed Jeremy a dragot.

She tapped his driver side window. "Oh, thank you, Jeremy. Keep an ear out, I'll be whistling for you for the next stop."

"Oh you don't have to keep up pretenses, ma'am," he said. He winked. "I know you like me taking you for a ride."

She giggled. Hana was a bit surprised to hear Miss West giggle like a little girl. "See ya, Jeremy."

They both laughed and Jeremy put the cab into gear. Miss West backed up as the cab lurched forward and sped off. It drove off so fast that it practically vanished right before Hana's eyes. Miss West turned back to Hana.

"Shall we?" She said.

"Um, Miss West," Hana said. "This is New Orleans."

"Yes," she responded, matter-of-factly.

"Um…" Hana skipped to meet up with Miss West's pace as she walked determinedly forward down the French Quarter. "What are we doing in New Orleans? How did we even get here? Louisiana must be thousands of miles from Alabama!"

"Ah, well, that's the magic of Jeremy's Krazy Kab. His cab is enchanted to go at such a speed that it'll get its passengers to their destinations in an ideal time. Without, you know, killing the people in the cab or breaking the sound barrier."

"We must've been in that thing for ten minutes."

"Ain't it crazy?" She smirked at Hana.

Hana laughed. "So, where is… what'd you call it?"

"Saglant Square," Miss West paused for a moment for Hana to catch up to her so that she could bring her voice down some. The square seemed somewhat crowded this afternoon. "It's a wizards-only marketplace. One of the oldest, actually, and also one of the more reliable places to purchase the materials on your list. But don't let New Englanders hear you say that, the lot of them boast about Hughman Alley. In my opinion, it's only well known for its aesthetics. Saglant, however, is the place to go for quality shopping."

Hana nodded. "So where is it then?"

They stopped at a small, sheltered alleyway that led nowhere.

"Here!" Miss West said.

Hana's mouth stayed open. She looked back up at Miss West then back down the alley.

"Wait here," Miss West said. She walked over to a lamp post precariously leaning to the side in the alley, a windchime dangling tenuously from a perch jutting out from the top of the lamp post. She strolled over, took her cane in her hand, reached up and grazed the windchime. "There we go."

The windchime began waving around, making lovely chimes all on its own as though it were being pushed by air. Suddenly, Hana could feel a rumble in the ground as the alleyway began to widen and expand. Brickwork began to appear and morph into an elaborate paved walkway. The lamppost straightened itself up and the light from its tip brightened, bathing the little - well not little anymore - walkway in a warm glow. Hana dropped her mouth in awe as the alley just changed right before her eyes. She looked behind her but nobody was taking notice. It was just her.

Miss West turned to Hana and beckoned for her. "Come, come."

Hana walked forward, entranced by it all, trailing along after Miss West as they walked down the newly paved walkway. They turned the corner and walked into an even more bustling French Quarter. People dressed in cloaks and old 1950s attire were hovering around different stands and kiosks of odd looking fruits and vegetables. Owls and ravens were perched everywhere and flying everywhere else. They passed a shop with shrunken heads dangling from outside of the windows, yapping at each other brutally. A group of young children were playing in a circle with tiny pebbles that seemed to explode, and when it did the children laughed.

They passed a tall cupola built around an ornate building made of polished marble with Greco-Roman structures. Large letters above the cupola read "HOBTOBBLETON WIZARD BANK". Just outside the building were several little ugly-looking creatures with picket signs that were far too large for them to hold. Hana assumed these were the goblins the newspaper had mentioned.

"What do we want?" One goblin, standing atop a raised platform, shouted.

"More gold!" Shouted the group of goblins.

"What for?"

"For more wages!"

"Not for?"

"For only sages!"

"And when do we want them?"

"The current ages!"

"That's why we want!"

"More gold!"

Miss West tapped Hana on the shoulder, who had been staring for a bit too long, and gestured to a nearby, similar-looking Greco-Roman structure. Above the entrance read "THE MAGICAL CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, LOUISIANA OFFICE". Just below it in small letters, was:

 _"Sit magia quod sit lex ordinis nostri et veritate"_

Hana and Miss West walked up the stone steps to the marble and iron-gated building and through into the grand entrance. Miss West's high heels clacked loudly on the marble floor, and all around Hana could hear hushed whispers echo throughout the entrance. They approached a podium with a practically exhausted looking young man reading a large, bulky-paged book.

"Hello, I'm Callica West," she smiled at the man who hadn't even looked up from his book. "I'm here to complete registry for a ward of the magical state, as she turned eleven-years-old just yesterday."

He sighed. "And what's the name of the child."

Miss West blinked and shook her head. "Um…"

"My name," Hana began. "Is Hana Dow."

He looked down at Hana, then up at Miss West, who simply shrugged. He then began to flip through the book. "Hmm. I'm searching under 'D' but her name doesn't seem to be here."

"Well," Miss West said said cautiously. "Maybe you should check under 'H'?"

He sighed again and flipped through the book again. "I see one 'Hana' roughly her age, but she's not a 'Dow'. Only 'Tilly'."

Miss West chuckled nervously. "Well, then I'd say this is quite a mix-up! Because this young girl is most definitely a witch. So, she should be registered no doubt."

The young man sighed in exasperation. "Great, now I have to do paperwork." He flipped the pages of the book to the back. He turned to a raven perched next to the podium. "Please tell Mr. Havitch he has a last minute appointment in three minutes." When the raven flew off, when pulled a feathered quill from its ink holder and began writing in the book. "'Hana Dow'. And her date of birth?"

"The first of June, 2007," Miss West said.

"Heh, funny. Same as the other girl."

Miss West chuckled. "Haha… Yes that is funny."

"Race or ethnicity?" He looked down at Hana, who gave him a big smile. "African-American. Don't know why I asked that." He scrawled some more into the book. "And state of birth?"

"Alabama."

He continued to scrawl in the book until he placed the quill back in the ink holder. "And that'll do." The raven came flying back and onto its perch.

It clucked and crowed at the man.

The man tsk-ed. "You only have to deliver the message, Bapstine. Not the attitude." He turned back to Miss West. "Down the hall on your left to room twenty-eight. A Mr. Havitch will be seeing you."

"Perfect!" Miss West said, taking Hana's hand and leading them both down the hall.

Another three ravens flew past them as they walked.

Hana yelped as the third one skimmed her hair. "Okay! What is with the ravens?!"

"Not so loud, dear," Miss West said in a hushed tone. "Ravens, you'll find, can be the best communicators for privatized messages. Much more efficient than those owls the Brits are so fond of."

"Private messages? Why don't you just text?"

"Oh we don't have phones in the wizarding world."

"WHY?!" Hana realized she said this a little too loudly. She cleared her throat. "Um, wow, why?"

Miss West chuckled. "Well, we're wizards. We have no need for phones. Or technology in general really. No-majs invented them as a means of doing their own magic, shall we say."

"That too, what are 'no-majs'?"

Miss West shrugged. "Non-magical. It's a word we use for those who can't use magic. Like your Mrs. Ringer. She's a no-maj."

"It sounds like a tacky word."

"Yeah," Miss West nodded in admission. "British wizards have a better word for it, but I'm just so used to saying it this way. You will, too." They came a door with the label "028, Mr. Altonworth Havich" in gold letters. Miss West turned to Hana. "Now, just let me do all the talking, Hana. No need to concern yourself with all this grown-up stuff, alright? Only answer questions you're asked, and we'll be out of here as soon as possible, and start shopping in no time. And remember, we're only shopping for things for school."

Hana nodded.

"And maybe if you behave yourself today, maybe we get some ice cream after shopping?" Miss West smiled brightly. "I think ice cream counts as school supplies." She winked.

* * *

After meeting with Mr. Havich, Hana practically galloped happily with both pockets jingling wildly with dozens of gold coins. Miss West smiled warmly after Hana, who skipped into the square and almost ran into a purple horse drawing a carriage. The horse nodded to her reassuringly as it kept trotting on its way.

They spent the rest of the day shopping, in stores either so gaudy they could practically be a world of their own, or so earthy in furniture and atmosphere that they may as well have been a cave. They went into a shop that sold an assortment of charms, and Hana noticed an array of dreamcatchers. She gasped and remembered her own, which she left back at the orphanage. She felt a little sad, but shrugged it off. She'd had it since she was a baby but never knew why she had it. She never thought much of it. Still, she would be sad of not seeing it anymore.

They made a stop at a bookstore. Miss West asked for more dragots from Hana, who gave them gleefully.

"I'll go get you your books." She waved at the aisles of books behind Hana. "Browse. Be right back."

Hana strolled through the aisles of books. She picked up one titled "The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore", with a moving picture of a wrinkly old man with a long skinny nose, a saggy purple hat, and small glasses placed on top of his nose on its cover. The author was a woman named Rita Skeeter. Sounded like a practically annoying name. She put it back on the shelf.

"Hi." She turned to her right to see a boy with neat sandy brown hair and crisp blue eyes. He smiled, and she noticed he was wearing a grey suit and black sweater vest. He seemed about her age.

"Hello," she said back, holding out her hand.

He took it. "My name is Ronan Eilonwy, what's yours?"

"I'm Hana. Hana Dow." She smiled. "It's nice to meet you Ronan."

"You, too." After they put their hands down, he shrugged his shoulders. "I don't think I've seen you around here before."

"You come here often?"

"Yeah! My family lives in Texas so we shop down here in Saglant all the time."

Texas?

"I still wish I could get used to floo powder, but some of it gets in my hair." He pat his hair and some odd greenish-greyish dust fell out. "Where are you from?"

"Oh… um…" It became clear to Hana fairly quickly that this boy wasn't like her. "I'm from Alabama."

"Cool!" He seemed a bit to eager at her response but she didn't think too much of it. "Are you going to Ilvermorny."

"Yeah," Hana was internally happy that the conversation turned to here.

"What house do you think you're gonna get?"

Nevermind.

"Um well…" She began.

He interrupted her almost immediately. "I know I'm gonna get Wampus." He balled up his hands into fists and put them on his hips, protruding his chest out. "Everybody in my family is Wampus. That's the brave house, for warriors and heroes you know." He had a very smug expression on his face.

"Yeah… right."

"I'm even related to Jason Eilonwy, that's right. The most famous Wampus."

He just keeps going huh, Hana thought to herself.

"I'm even a distant cousin to President Galbant Eilonwy. Uh-huh! Our family is nothing but Wampus, so I couldn't see a better house to be in!" He seemed a bit more enthralled in his part of the conversation, his voice increasing in volume the more he referred to himself. "So which one do you think you'll get into?"

Hana stammered. "Oh, uh, well, I don't really know."

"Well what house was your family in?"

Hana paused, her gaze falling to the ground.

"What is it?"

"I, uh… I didn't know my family. I'm an orphan." She shrugged. "I don't know anything about them."

"Oh…" Ronan's eyes widened. "I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be." Hana shook her head and smiled again. "I'm sure Wampus sounds real nice."

"Yeah… Oh! Yeah it is! You'll totally be in it!" He quickly bounced back to his smug look and droning on about himself and his family. Hana let Ronan keep talking until Miss West scuttled up to them with several books under her arm.

She smiled to Ronan. "Well, if it isn't little Ronnie."

Ronan's cheeks turned red. "Hi, Miss West."

"You know her?" Hana asked Ronan.

"Of course!" Miss West said. "I've taught all of his siblings, and even his parents." She winked at Ronan. "Now, come on Hana. We've got more shopping to do."

Hana and Ronan said goodbye to each other, and Hana followed Miss West out of the bookstore. They began making their way down the street.

"Made your first friend?"

Hana shrugged. "He was alright I guess. Sure talked about Wampus a lot."

"Ah, yes. Pureblood families like his sure do love their house pride. But if I were you, I wouldn't make a habit out of befriending the first Wampus you meet."

Hana looked up at her, shifting her cauldron handle's position around her arm. "Why?"

"Oh… I'm mostly speaking out of bias, but Wampus tend to be… well, rude. When it comes to non-magic kind." She shrugged. "Well, in my experience rude in general, very uptight folk. Their way, or the highway, but I-" She stopped herself then turned to Hana. "Hana, do you even know what a wampus is?"

"It's a house at Ilvermorny."

"Did he tell you about the other three houses?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I didn't… ask."

Miss West sighed. "Hana, you shouldn't feel intimidated to just ask questions."

"I know, but I've never met other wizards my age."

"Oh, Hana," Miss West said. "Well, do you have any questions about Ilvermorny?"

Hana hesitated, then nodded. "What are the houses?"

Miss West nodded. "Well, there's my house - Thunderbird. Where those bravest and most daring to experience new things go. Also Horned Serpent, where the wisest and keenest of students go. You know about Wampus-"

"Yeah, Ronan said Wampus is the brave house."

Miss West scoffed. "Brave is one word for it. I call it arrogance." She rolled her eyes. "But I am being bias. Thunderbird and Wampus have a bit of a rivalry. In all honesty Wampus is where the people with ambition and passion go to. I rag on them, but a Wampus knows how to get things done right. Let's see, oh! And Pukwudgie."

"Puff-who-what?"

Miss West laughed. "It's a goblin-creature thing. It's the house where the fair and reserved go to. Don't let the name fool you, you won't meet a more critical or prouder person than a Pukwudgie. I know many stubborn students in that house. But you also won't meet a more loyal and like-minded person either."

Hana nodded. "What's Ilvermorny like?"

"Why, it's the best!" Miss West seemed giddy, making Hana smile at her enthusiasm. "It's an old school, well not as old as other schools, but old enough for maybe some things to seem old fashioned to you. But we cherish our history. And our feasts, oh Hana! The feasts are to die for."

"Like at Thanksgiving?"

"Especially on Thanksgiving! Oh and do be courteous to the pukwudgies on staff, they keep saying they'll leave - they never do but you never know. Also, we are a cranberry pie school. That's just something you'll have to live with, my dear. We also have our own special quodpot and quidditch teams for each house, maybe you'll be on one yourself-" Miss West kept going on and on, and Hana listened, practically fascinated, enthralled by this school she had never even heard of save a few hours ago. "The dormitories are wonderful, all of them, even the Wampus dorms. They're very sunny-"

Hana did a double take. "Dorms? Wait I'm living at Ilvermorny?"

"Well yes, it's a boarding school."

"I'm being sent to a boarding school?" Hana's mouth dropped and she stopped walking. "I just found out about a magical world and I don't even get see more of it? I'm just stuck at a school for… like… however long schools last?"

"Hana," Miss West said. She walked up to Hana. "I know you're excited, but believe me. You don't have to rush into this. Take it all in. Learn to walk before you fly, Hana. It's the little, everyday things that make life worth living. And I think you'll find Ilvermorny will sate your curiosity enough. It's a big place."

"I guess… It's just…" Hana said as the two began to walk again. "I missed so much about all of this. I want to see everything. I want to know everything about it."

"In time you will. You're a bright girl, and you pick up fast." Miss West stopped in front of a store, the outside bombarded with kiosks of caged and perched animals. "Speaking of picking up, how about we pick you up a little friend?" Miss West walked up onto the paved sidewalk and straight to the door.

They walked inside the store to find it a pet store. Hana walked around and looked at the various animals - some normal looking ones and other, well less normal ones. Some were in cages, others were out and about.

"Well?" Miss West said. "What are you thinking?"

Hana shrugged. "I'm not really an animal person."

A Siamese cat rested in a box on the top shelf of an aisle Hana passed looked at her, practically staring at her. Hana turned to it. She got the feeling the cat was studying her, making a decision. Hana raised an eyebrow and turned away. She walked through more aisles and tables, glancing at positively weird looking animals. She found Miss West again.

"So?"

Hana shrugged.

"Really? Not a single one?"

Hana giggled. "Sorry. I've never had a pet before, but not because Mrs. Ringer never offered."

Miss West nodded. "Alright, then. The pet _is_ optional." She moved her carpet bag's handle down her arm and held out her hand. "Come on, stay close. It's a bit crowded in here."

Hana pulled out a free hand and tried to balance her cauldron in the other. She took Miss West's hand and the two began to make their way out of the store.

Suddenly the Siamese cat Hana saw hopped over onto the nearby table and began to meow at them. Miss West laughed it off and the two kept on walking. The cat kept following them, its meowing becoming increasingly louder, despite the noises of the other animals.

"Oh dear," Miss West said in exasperation.

The cat meowed sharply, as though it was responding to her.

Miss West stopped and turned to the cat, which had sit down calmly and smoothly when she did. It sat upright, poised and elegant, looking up at Miss West with its cool blue eyes. It didn't flinch when she leaned in toward it.

"Go away," she said.

It blinked, not moving an inch.

She let go of Hana's hand and waved her hands at it. "Shoo. Go away."

It seemed apathetic to her gesture. It then meowed in a brief, indignant tone.

Miss West gasped. "How rude!"

"What? What did it say?" said Hana.

"I don't know, it's a cat," replied Miss West. She made a shooing gesture at it again. "We don't want a pet you silly cat. Go back to doing… cat things!"

The cat then meowed in short and long inflections and syllables, as though it was actually talking and speaking in a coherent sentence. It then nodded its head after finishing to indicate it was done making its point.

"I…" Even Miss West seemed at a loss for words. "I don't speak cat, dear."

The cat huffed and seemed to slightly shake its head.

"Oh enough, come on Hana let's go." She turned around and took Hana's hand and the two began walking to the front of the store again.

The cat meowed a bit more forcefully this time and continued to follow them. It continued to meow, as though trying to convince them of something. When they reached the door, the cat propped itself up on a column near it. When Miss West opened the door, the cat pushed back on it with its paw and the door closed. This made Hana giggle.

The cat looked at her and seemed to smirk with a twinkle in its eye.

Miss West made a humph and tried to open the door again.

The cat pushed the door back again with its paw.

Hana giggled.

Miss West turned to her. "Don't encourage him."

"I like him," Hana said. "He's funny."

The cat gave two resounding meows.

Miss West turned to the cat, pointing at it briefly. She then turned back to Hana. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah! Is that offer for a pet still open?"

The cat leaned in, nodding its head.

Miss West looked at the cat, then back to Hana. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "If that's the cat you want then I guess-"

"Yay!" Hana exclaimed.

The cat gave a loud meow for a cheer.

"Oh good grief," Miss West muttered under her breath.

After they bought the cat, which Hana named Lulu, they strolled along the street to buy robes. They then stopped at a confectionary to buy ice cream. Hana was allowed two scoops, one for cranberry and another for vanilla. Miss West had a sorbet. Lulu would lick a bit at Hana's, which made her laugh when he dipped his tongue out. They found a table with iron chairs to sit at and enjoy their treat for the day, and decided to watch passersby and drink in the now lit up square as the sun began to set.

Hana noticed a family pass them by, the little girl having ice cream, the older boy and mother eating odd-looking rock candy, and the father with a big grain on his face. He brought his arms around the mother and the girl into a big hug, and the boy laughed. The mother then tugged him by his collar and he too became swept up in their hug. They then parted and continued walking past Hana's table. Hana sighed and looked down.

"Hana," Miss West said. "Your cat seems to be enjoying your ice cream more than you are."

Hana looked at Lulu, who was now trying to lick the cone to stop the ice cream from melting. She chuckled half-heartedly.

"What's wrong, sweetie?"

Hana looked at Miss West. "Who am I?"

Miss West furrowed her brow in confusion.

"I mean… what's my family?"

Miss West's eyes began to blank, her eyebrows raised slightly.

"I mean, if you guys knew I was a witch, then maybe that means you know who my family is."

"I…"

"Were they magic, like me? Did they go to Ilvermorny? What houses were they? What were they like?"

"I…" Miss West paused. She seemed distracted by something just as much as she was confused about the question. Her face betrayed melancholy, as though she was recalling an old memory. She then composed herself. "Hana I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can tell you about your parents right now. Only… except that you'll never be able to see them again."

Hana sighed. "Oh…"

Miss West saw the look of disappointment on her face, and pursed her lips. She then sighed. "But your mother…"

Hana looked up, clinging to every word she was saying.

"Your mother was a Thunderbird." She nodded. "And she was the most brilliant woman I've ever known." She smiled when Hana's eyes sparked, and her face lit up with happiness. "Now, finish your ice cream, sweetheart. We need to leave soon."

Hana eagerly ate her ice cream, and looked around at the other witches and wizards again. Miss West watched her, recalling her bittersweet memories. Lara was, indeed, one of the most brilliant women she ever knew. Miss West would never admit it, of course, but Lara was also her favorite niece.

* * *

Once they got back into the krazy kab, Jeremy went on and on about the recent fares he took shortly after taking them. Hana thought about her mother. A Thunderbird! It sounded exciting. What if she got Thunderbird like her mother did? And a brilliant woman? Did that mean she was a powerful witch? But if she was so powerful then how did she die? Hana supposed that was all Miss West was going to tell her on that subject, so she didn't push it. She knew it wasn't much, but she already knew so much more about her parents than she ever dreamed she could.

"Hana?" Miss West said, noticing Hana looking out of the window.

Hana looked to her, actually happy she wasn't looking outside. The cab's speed was making her dizzy.

"Are you alright?"

Hana smiled and nodded. "I've never been happier."

It was longer than the ten minute ride to Saglant Square this time, but not terribly longer. Jeremy came to another screeching hault, and while Hana was holding onto the armrest this time she still jerked forward. Jeremy hollered and Hana hopped out when Miss West opened the door.

Miss West took out two dragots this time and walked up to Jeremy's window. Hana closed the cab door after them. Hana then turned to see an oddly shaped mansion with yellow and beige walls and columns and crimson tiled roofs. Windows and doors, and balconies seemed to be placed in odd positions above the front porch. The backside seemed to extend further and wider, and oddly enough it seemed as though it wasn't finished. The mansion rested far away from the shrubbery and metal fencing that guarded an iron fence on the mansion's side. Palm trees and statues and a fountain laid out in the courtyard that divided the mansion from its front gate.

Hana gaped, and realized where this was. She'd read about it in a book. She turned to Miss West, who was making conversation with Jeremy, tucking her hair behind her ear and her cheeks blushing. "Miss West!"

She looked up, still smiling widely.

"Is this the Winchester House?"

Miss West turned to Jeremy. "I'll see you later, Jeremy."

He winked at her, then put the cab in gear.

Miss West walked over to Hana as the cab sped off. "Yes it is." She picked up her carpet bag, which she put Hana's books in to make it easier carrying them. She gestured for Hana to follow her down the sidewalk.

As Hana did, she looked back at the house, marveling at it.

The two came to a black ironed gate separating tall shrubs, and Miss West pushed the gate open.

Hana skipped up to her as they passed through. "Is this legal?"

"I should hope so, this is the M.A.C.U.S.A. Ward House."

" _We live here?_ " Hana asked, stunned. She then raised an eyebrow. "Wait, how do we live here? Aren't there no-majs around during the day, doing tours and stuff?"

Miss West chuckled as they walked down a path into the courtyard. "Clearly you haven't been paying attention." She gave Hana a smirk. "Oh, it's okay. I like to show off for the new kids."

They stopped just in front of the house. Miss West looked around them cautiously, then took her cane by the hand. She then twisted the opal top and pulled it off. Attached was a light brown, polished wooden stick with what looked like coral embed in it etched with elaborate designs. She raised it, looking forward at the mansion gleefully. She then flourished the stick and waved it sideways.

The moment she did, the house began to change, moving and expanding before their very eyes. Rooms seemed to be adding onto it, towers protruding out of nowhere, and it seemed to triple in its size. Lights began to go on inside the house now, and the sounds of laughter and merriment came from within. When the house stopped its transformation, Miss West looked at Hana, impressed at her work.

Hana was dumbfounded.

"Come now, Hana. Trust me, this is nothing compared to the inside." Miss West trotted up the steps and Hana skipped along as well.


	5. Summer at the Magicical Ward House

Miss West closed the door and locked her wooden stick into her cane again as Hana walked through into a small foyer built in rich mahogany wood floors and a bannister leading down a corridor. Miss West hung her hat onto a hat rack overflowing with dozens of hats of various colors and sizes. Several small, goblin-looking creatures - though Hana was sure they looked nothing like the goblins from Saglant Square - were scurrying through the foyer, down the corridors on either side and some up the stairs on the far side of the entrance.

She could hear the uproarious sounds of laughter, dishes clattering, and popping noises practically echoing off the walls. A couple of older looking kids - gosh they must've been at least sixteen-years-old - pushed open a set of double doors near the stairs and walked into the foyer. They were laughing amongst themselves when they noticed who walked in.

"Hey, Miss!" One of them said as the others cheered.

"Hey, kids," Miss West replied. "Say 'hello' to Hana." She gestured to her.

The teens did so as they passed by, heading down the left corridor.

Hana giggled, she'd never known any older kids before.

Miss West tapped her on the shoulder. "Alright, go upstairs to the door that has your name on it. Get dressed in something nice for dinner."

"You already have my name on the door?" Hana said. Then she stopped. "Wait…" She turned to Miss West. "I get my own room?"

"Of course, sweetie. There's tons of space here." Miss West seemed absent-minded, walking past Hana toward the raised landing the stairs were on. "The lady that built this mansion used a special kind of extension magic so we'll always have room for whoever needs a place to-" She realized Hana wasn't immediately following her. She turned around. "Hana what's wrong?"

Hana walked forward a bit. "I've never had my own room."

Miss West looked at her sweetly. "Well, you'll always have a room here. With your name in gold letters." She pointed upwards. "Upstairs, third floor."

Hana walked up to the landing as Miss West turned back forward, waving her hands and making the double doors open automatically.

"Dinner's in one hour, so find your bearings quickly." She vanished into the next wing and the doors closed behind her.

Hana looked up the staircase and took a deep breath. She took the banister by her hand and walked up. For a magical house the floorboards were pretty creaky. She continued until she came to the second floor landing. She looked around and couldn't find the stairs to the third floor, so she wandered down the hall. She felt a chill up her spine and could swear she heard a faint wailing - it almost sounded like a whisper or a breeze.

Then, a girl walked out of one of the doors in the hallway, reading a book with an ornate cover. The girl walked past her and down the stairs. Hana kept walking down and came to a crossway of sorts - to her left seemed like a meek sitting area were a few kids sat at ornate chairs around a coffee table listening to an old-fashioned radio. Hana figured that odd wailing noise came from the radio. She looked to her left and could see at the end of the corridor was the beginning of the next set of stairs and made her way there.

When she reached the third floor she made a right down the main corridor which lead to a large mezzanine where a lounge and a piano were, and a couple other ornate chairs were on the opposite side of the lounge area. The piano was playing on its own, which mesmerized her for a brief moment before she kept going down one of the halls off the mezzanine. She reached the end of the hall and saw on the door in the corner in gold letters "HANA DOW". She smiled brightly and opened the door.

Inside she saw that she had a turret tower for a room, as the far right corner was circular shaped and she could see rafters holding up the cone-shaped roof of the tower. Beautiful stained glass windows overlooked some of the front courtyard of the mansion across the walls of the tower. To her right as she walked in, a dresser and a wardrobe waited for her. She could also see her cauldron, Lulu's opened cage, and a stack of her books were already there waiting for her. Maybe Miss West enchanted them here the minute they got in? She opened her wardrobe and as well as her cranberry cloaks, several pretty dresses and blouses were hung up.

She held out her hand and felt the new clothes that Miss West had picked out for her. They felt nice, nicer than any clothes she'd ever had in her life. She closed the wardrobe and looked around the rest of the room. She even had a nice looking sofa within the tower portion of the room, and a small bookshelf at the right side wall of the room. On the left side wall was a long bed with big fluffy pillows and comforter resting up against a tall window that was looking into the room next door.

She walked up to the bed and looked at the ornate glass lamp on the bedside table. She put her small luggage on top of the bed, then leaned over to the lamp and turns it on. That corner of the room filled with auburn and kaleidoscope colors, dazzling her wonderfully. She smiled, her eyes twinkled.

There was a knock from the window pane next to the bed and she turned to see a boy. He smiled meekly as he waved at her from his side of the window. Hana hopped onto the bed and opened the window and she could now see him clearly without the glare of the lamp's light. He seemed young like her, light olive-tanned skin and milk chocolate eyes. His hair was jet black and had a rigid solid shape, but curled some at its edges. His nose was wide and protruded out, it filled out his round face.

Hana peered a little into his room, which seemed smaller than hers if only because it didn't have the added feature of the tower in the corner of her room. Besides the window looking into her room, he had a single other window that looked out to the mansion courtyard. His luggage was closer to his door, but it seemed he brought with him fewer things from wherever he came from.

"Hi," Hana said first. "My name is Hana, what's yours?"

"Roddy," he replied.

"Nice to meet ya." She nodded to him.

"It looks like we're neighbors," he said.

"It does. It's a little weird that there's a window here."

"I think it's just this house. Even with the magic, the doors and windows are all in weird places."

Hana nodded. "Where are you from?"

"I'm from Miami."

"Miami? Cool! What's it like?"

"I've never gone to the beach if that's what you're asking."

"Oh…" Hana looked to the side, not really sure what else to say.

"A lot of palm trees, though," Roddy said. He tilted his head to the side. "I'm not really good at talking to people. Sorry."

Hana shrugged. "Eh, you're doing fine."

"Really?"

"Yeah." She shifted herself on her bed and crossed her legs. "Better than you think you are."

He did the same as her. "Thanks."

"I'm from Alabama. I'm sure it's not as exciting as being in Florida."

"Trust me, it's boring in Florida."

"No way! You have Disney World!"

"I've never even been to Disney World!"

"Nu-uh! Really?"

"No! Have you?"

"Nah," she shrugged. "I never had parents, and the orphanage I'm from never made enough money to go. It was a small place, not a lot of people knew about it."

Roddy nodded. "I knew my parents but… it's a crummy thing. I don't really like talking about it."

"You don't have to. We can talk about other stuff."

"Like what?"

Hana brought a finger to her chin. "Hmm… Do you play video games?"

"No." He shrugged.

"Board games?"

He shrugged again.

"Running games?"

"Let's just assume I don't play games." They both laughed.

"Do you read books?"

He gasped and nodded vigorously. "I love books!"

"What stuff do you like?"

"The foster place I was from had a lot of old books like Narnia and Peter Pan."

"Mine too!"

The two spent the next while talking on and on about books. Fantasy books, science fiction books, books with pictures, and books without pictures. They went on until there was a knock on Roddy's door and Miss West poked her head in.

"Hello Roddy. Oh, and I see you've made a friend!" She smiled at Hana. "And I see neither of you are dressed for dinner yet, up to!"

"But I don't have anything to wear," Roddy said.

"Yeah you do," said Hana. "In the wardrobe, there was some stuff in mine."

"There is?" He hopped off his bed and walked over to his wardrobe on the other side of the room. He opened it and gasped. "Whoah!"

"I'll see you two in five," Miss West said, grinning. She turned around and closed the door as she left.

"I'm gonna close the curtain so I can get changed," Hana said.

"Okay!" Roddy began sifting through his clothes as Hana reached for the curtains on her side of the window.

She pulled them closed and skipped over to her wardrobe, pulling out a bright pink sundress with red polka dots. She changed into the dress, and kept her pigtails done. She walked back over to the bed.

"Roddy are you done getting ready?"

"Yeah, let's walk outside."

She skipped over to her door and left her room. After closing the door behind her she saw Roddy, now in a light blue long sleeve shirt buttoned up to its collar and bright denim jeans, closing his door as well. His eyes widened briefly when she saw her. "Wow you look… um…" He stammered and shook his head. "Pink!" He exclaimed. "It's a nice color!" He then tilted his head, furrowing his brow, realizing what he just said.

Hana giggled. "You look nice, too."

His cheeks turned red.

"Come on," She took his hand. "Let's go downstairs!" She then sprinted forward, dragging him along with her.

The two made their way down to the first floor, and saw many kids walking through the double doors. They shrugged to each other and followed them. They came into a lavish parlor room that lead into another short corridor. As they went down the corridor, a couple doorways to the right led into what looked like a kitchen. At the end of the short corridor was another set of double doors with a set of stained glass windows on them. The doors were fully open and as they approached it they could see it was indeed leading into the large dining room. It even had its own mezzanine and two fireplaces at each edge of the dining table, which was already long.

At the center of the table was a large, flourished and ornately decorated gold cornucopia. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling and an assortment of plain candles floated in a single file line just an inch above the table. Miss West was standing at one end of the table, and another woman at the other end. She was much older, her hair short and black and pinned up. She wore a light beige executive jacket and skirt. It seemed a strain for her to really stand up, she wobbled as she rested heavily on her iron cane and she could barely keep her slanted eyes open all the way.

A lot of the kids had already taken their seats, and all the seats next to Miss West were already taken. Luckily there were still two open chairs side by side, so they quickly rushed over to get to them. They weren't very far down from Miss West, who smiled warmly at the both of them.

Hana noticed several of those little goblin-looking creatures standing up straight at the edges of the room. She wasn't sure what they were waiting for but she decided to divert her attention to everyone else. There were so many kids at this table, so many kids without families of their own. So many kids just like her. Maybe she really wasn't so alone after all. After many kids had arrived to the dining room table, Miss West stood up, and clinked the wine glass in her hand with a spoon. As soon as she did, the conversations died down. She put both the glass and the spoon down.

"So. Another year, another summer, and of course, more youngins." Several of the older kids chuckled. "As many of you know, I started first thing around the middle of last month finding more bright young witches and wizards, like I do every year, and now I can safely say that every new comer is counted for. Everybody, say hello to Hana." She gestured to the girl.

Everybody stated, groaned, or exclaimed their "hellos" and Hana smiled timidly.

"First one from Alabama in years, and I'm excited to see what she can do. I better see you all give her the best courtesy I practice with you each and everyday." She nodded once everyone murmured their reassurances. "Good. Now," she gestured to some of the goblin-creatures standing at the walls, then took her seat. "Let our first summer dinner begin."

The creatures snapped their fingers and suddenly, the empty platters in the middle of the table were instantly filled with food. Bowls of mashed potatoes, peas, corn, and mac and cheese existed in heaps and thick, carved ham rested next to big plates of fried chicken wings and drumsticks. Hana and Roddy gasped. The kids immediately reached for their choices of food, and Roddy almost didn't hesitate to grab the mac and cheese. Hana looked at Miss West, who was grinning almost too cockily. She winked at Hana as she started to dig in herself.

Hana ate dozens of drumsticks that night, and so much mac and cheese. It was more than she'd ever eaten in her life. She'd overhear some of the kids talking about summer assignments from Ilvermorny - some of them had to do with making a teacup vanish and rematerialize, and to document its properties and alterations. Another kid talked about a potion they were told to deconstruct by ingredients and amount and yet they haven't even started. She also overheard someone refer the goblin-looking creatures as "house elves", though they didn't much look like elves to her.

She also picked up on a few more things about Ilvermorny. Someone talked about wanting the catch the sorting ceremony for a few minutes before getting a headstart on "quodpot" practice - and that there was some sort of knots and statues involved with it. She also overheard something about a "wyvern" being kept somewhere on the grounds. Somebody else mentioned a Black Forest and a Sasquatch groundskeeper.

Some kids mentioned house dormitories - Wampus apparently required students to hop into an eternally lit fireplace, and Horned Serpent was guarded by a waterfall. There also seemed to be an understanding that other houses were allowed into the designated common rooms, but this seemed odd to Hana. After all, what was the point of a house common room if any house could get in?

A lot of kids at the table, especially the older kids, played some odd game called quodpot, which sounded like a sport to her. A couple mentioned another one called quidditch, though this didn't seem to have enough traction as qudopot did. She did, though, seem a bit intrigued by it. Maybe she'd play it someday, she thought to herself. When prompted, Miss West seemed to know a lot about quodpot, in fact it almost sounded as though she played it herself once.

She heard an incessant "meow" come from beneath her. She turned to her left and looked down to see Lulu patting her calf with his paw, looking up at her. She giggled and brought Lulu up onto her lap. Lulu looked around the table, his eyes widened to seeing all of the food.

"Oh," Miss West said. "No, honey, no pets at the table."

"Ah, come on Miss W," said one older kid. "He looks cute."

A few other kids chimed in.

Miss West rolled her eyes. "Oh alright, fine then."

The cat hopped up onto the table and went straight for the ham directly in front of Hana. They all laughed as Lulu went to town on it, nibbling and ripping it apart. Lulu then sat down to a resting position as he ate his own feast.

The dinner went on for about an hour until people began lessening out slowly, eventually. Hana and Roddy kept talking about things they liked and didn't like. Hana enjoyed someone who was actually interested in hearing her thoughts for once. Chloe was a nice friend, but she had never really taken the time to ask Hana anything she thought. Roddy didn't seem to mind her talking, in fact she got the impression he actually liked to hear her talk.

Eventually, Miss West announced the dinner was over after about another hour, and that it was definitely time to go to bed. Hana and Roddy got up and began making their way out of the dining room, Lulu swiftly getting up and following suit. They both said goodnight to Miss West before leaving the dining room. Miss West seemed preoccupied with helping the house elves clean and tidy up.

The two walked up the stairs. Hana heard the faint wailing again, though this time she didn't see anyone listening to the radio in the sitting area on the second floor. Roddy turned to her when she stopped.

"What is it?" He said.

"Nothing just… You're gonna think I'm weird."

"We're living in a magic house, with house elves, and we're going to a magic school where you have to jump through a fireplace just to go to bed." He laughed. "I think a lot of things about this are weird, just tell me."

Hana laughed. "Well, earlier when I got here I thought I heard like a screaming but like whisper. I thought I was just imagining it, but I heard it again just now, and louder this time even."

"Well, when I got here a couple of weeks ago, I heard some kids talking about a phantasm that walks around the house."

"A phantasm? What's that?"

"That's the thing! I looked all over the house to find a book that could tell me something about phantasms or the house." They walked down the corridor toward the third floor stairs. "From what I could find, phantasms are a step below ghosts." He pointed down to the ground.

"Ghosts are real?"

"Yeah but not like they're real people. They're more like a bad photoshopped version."

"Oh."

"Yeah, and apparently phantasms are worse than them. Evil spirits, that only wizards who don't do seances right can summon them. And they never go away. Or well, it's just difficult to make them go away."

"How bad are they?"

"Real bad from what I've read. You don't wanna get caught up with phantasms, they'll do nasty things. Evil, even."

"Right… Wait! There's an evil spirit in this house?!" She said, as they began to ascend the stairs.

"Yeah! That's so creepy! Apparently the story that the lady who built this house was afraid spirits were trying to kill her, so she just kept building rooms and windows and doorways that went nowhere to try and confuse them. That was actually true, sort of. She was a witch, who upset another witch. The other witch sicked a phantasm on her, so the lady enchanted her house so that its layout would look one way to no-majs, another to witches and wizards, and some kinda mismatch of the two for the phantasm. It keeps the phantasm lost in a labyrinth of rooms and staircases and doorways so that it would never be able to find her."

"Isn't she dead though? Why's that thing still around?"

"Eh, there isn't much else about it. Just that it's supposed to disappear when it kills Sarah Winchester."

"But… she's already dead."

"Which means it's not going anywhere."

Hana nodded with unease. "Great."

Hana and Roddy returned to their separate rooms, and Hana went and closed the window on her side of it after saying goodnight to Roddy. She walked over to her wardrobe and grabbed a nightgown that was hanging up. She moved to a far corner of the room and got dressed in the nightgown, then skipped back over to her bed. She picked up her luggage and plopped it on the floor.

Lulu appeared and hopped up onto her comforter, curling up into a ball as she got underneath it.

Hana tucked herself in tightly before turning off her lamplight.

A tap came from Roddy's side of the window and she turned over. He waved at her, sporting a bigger smile than he had earlier this evening.

She smiled and waved back.

Roddy turned over and tucked himself in.

Hana turned back over, looking out at the windows on the other side of the room. She gave a sigh of content and closed her eyes. She finally found the home she had been waiting for.

Her dreams, which she found had more clarity unlike before, which had been mostly a blur or a haze, began to fill her entire sight. She became very conscious that she was dreaming, something that had never happened before. She was in a living room, an unassuming living room. She saw a dark-skinned woman, much older than her, the cinks in her hair stood up to form a small, modest fro. She was wearing a long grey blouse and capri pants, and she had a look of dread in her eyes.

At first, Hana thought she was looking at herself, until she turned around and could see a mass of darkness shrouding an entire corner of the room. The television near the corner was showing static, and Hana was feeling a ringing in her ear. She also noticed several shadowy figures surrounding the woman, but their shadowiness was different from the dark mass in the corner. They had form, and figures, shapes, edges and outlines to their body, but she just couldn't see them. It was almost as if she knew they were there, she just wasn't focusing enough on them to see them.

But that was absurd, she was looking at them, how could she not see what they looked like? The ringing in her ear was getting louder, almost distracting. She then noticed that nobody was moving. She looked around the room and it was as though time was perfectly still. It was a still frame, a single frame, that she was standing in the middle of. She looked again at the mass of darkness in the corner, and could see a figure in the darkness but couldn't quite make it out. She could also see another figure beneath it, she almost missed it shrouded within the massive shade being casted by the figure projecting it.

She was almost certain that a fight was going on here

She heard distant voices calling out to her. One of them sounded like Miss West, and the other was a man she'd never recalled ever knowing. Yet somehow, his voice seemed distinctly familiar, friendly even. They were calling to her, seeming to be drawing her back, but she felt more drawn to the woman.

That's when she noticed something: the ringing in her ear, it wasn't ringing. It was crying. A baby's cries.

My cries, she said to herself. She wasn't sure how, but something was telling her she was the one crying. She looked back, toward the glass door that led to the backyard. There was nothing there but darkness and emptiness. She felt as though she was there, crying out to someone. Trying to find someone, as she came to this house.

She suddenly found herself on the other side of the glass-paned door, looking at the world from a smaller position. Everything seemed bigger now, taller, more dynamic. She could feel tears streaming down her eyes as movement was slightly returning to the scene inside the living room. The woman stepped forward in slow motion toward the figure in the dark mass. The figure seemed to have flowing, black straw-like hair.

The woman brought her fists up to her chest, and streaks of glowing white light ran up her body. She seemed to be saying something, shouting it even, but Hana was crying so loudly, and she was just on the other side of the door. She couldn't hear a thing. Nothing but the voices in her head telling her frantically to come back. Their draw was winning her over, and she could feel herself slipping away, moving further and further from the scene. The woman then flung her arms downward, thrusting her whole body out. A flash of green ignited from her body and Hana could only surmise it ripped her apart.

As soon as the woman did so, that flash of green sent a force out so powerful it destroyed the house. But Hana found herself pulled away before it reached her, and soon she found herself huddled in a nest of blankets, looking up. A cloud of gold dust settled onto her face and she felt her eyes grow heavy. Her little infant eyes closed and Hana shook awake, still in her bed in the ward house.

She looked at the clock next to her, it had been a couple hours since she went to sleep. She panted, remembering every detail. Was that a nightmare? She never had nightmares before. Funny though, it didn't really feel like a nightmare. It felt too real to be just a dream.

And come to think of it, she never really had dreams either. From time to time, she'd find herself on the occasional rollercoaster ride of her fantasies, but never anything very in depth, and never a dream that lasted for very long. She just never had dreams. She found it curious, especially since this could technically count as her first dream. But now? Why that of all things? Maybe her anxieties were just getting to her, after all it has been a long day.

She laid her head back on her pillow and hoped a different, better dream would take her soon.

* * *

As the summer went on, Hana would find she had less dreams like this. Her dreams usually tended to be abstract and bright with vibrant colors and talking animals, especially snakes. Though, Hana took more and more notice that she'd find recalling them and re-experiencing them with more clarity and ease, which is something that never happened to her. Most of the time she never could remember what she dreamt about, or rather she couldn't recall if she ever dreamed at all. It was a strange thing to consider.

Otherwise, her summer was perfectly fine. Better, even, than any summer she'd ever had. She and Roddy often found themselves reading books together, or playing hide and seek with some of the other children. One day, Miss West took several of the children down to the beach - which Hana convinced Roddy to do despite his disinterest in getting sand in his bathing suit. They took a spot near the shoreline and made sand castles all day.

On another day, Hana and Roddy joined a couple of twelve and thirteen year olds in making a lemonade stand on the other side of the street, supervised by the other caretaker of the ward house, Mrs. Young. Roddy helped make the lemonade, as he was fascinated at how they were using magic conspicuously in order to create an endless supply of lemonade. Hana agreed to help handout the lemonade for people who paid and passed on down the line. Some people gave real money, which Mrs. Young took and put it into what looked like a fanny pack around her waist, and from bottom of the pack would come out the corresponding ogpots that the lemonade was worth. Others, namely wizards, gave ogpots. Apparently there were neighborly wizards nearby.

One particular fourteen-year-old who also agreed to help gave their "wand" - that's what wizards called those wooden sticks - to him and held his hand steady to help re-enchant the tub of lemonade. Roddy was practically giddy when the tub gave a gurgle in response.

A man wearing a dark grey hoodie held up over his face and his hands in his sweater pockets, and a tight pair of faded jeans came by the stand and paid in ogpots. Hana couldn't really see his face, hidden by both the hood and his obviously long hair covering up a lot of the lower half of his face. Hana could tell, though, that he definitely had copper skin - sort of, it seemed to have an ashy complexion.

She turned to the tub of lemonade, which had just been freshly reenchanted, and got a red solo cup. She pressed down on the switch and lemonade poured into the cup. After she filled it up, she turned to the man who now made his way to her and held the cup out to him.

When the man reached out and grabbed the cup with one of his ashen-copper skinned hands, his pinky finger brushed against Hana's hands. As he did, a spark of electricity shocked between them, and Hana saw an image of an ashen-palored man with beady red eyes and a mass of darkness and shadow stretching out from behind him flash quickly in her vision. It was almost like it was a mental snapshot, and it made her jump slightly. So slightly, that nobody else seemed to notice what happened.

No one except the man who was holding the cup that Hana was still holding.

Hana could feel him staring at her, his eyes widened in surprise. She could see if she squinted, that his eyes had a hint of auburn or… crimson. She brought her hand down and the man brought the cup up to his chest, not taking his eyes off her. She walked backward slowly until she collided with the fourteen-year-old.

"Oop, be careful, Hana."

She turned slightly to look at them until the girl watching the stand and taking money called out to her. She turned to the girl.

"Give the lady her lemonade, Hana."

Hana looked forward and could see a woman standing in front of her looking confused.

Roddy handed Hana a red solo cup filled with lemonade.

Hana looked around as she handed the lady her lemonade, but couldn't see the strange man again. The lady walked off, sipping her lemonade, leaving Hana to ponder on what on earth that was. Had she just imagined the man? That wasn't possible, he bought a lemonade. She looked at the stack of red solo cups and could definitely see that one was missing. So strange. Who was he? He paid with an ogpot, so he had to be a wizard. But what an odd looking wizard. And what was that image she saw that flashed before her eyes? It seemed to look like the man, but her memory of it was fading fast. She could only remember for certain that the person looked like they had ashen skin, red eyes, and wore a dark cloak.

The kids finished selling their lemonade, and decided to go back inside for dinner. That night, she had a terrifying dream. A figure clad in a dark and billowing robe appeared in her room. Most of his face was covered with a hood but she could tell he had ashen skin and beady red eyes, like the image she saw at the lemonade stand. However, he seemed to be a bit blurry, almost like the figure was a projection or a hologram, and he carried some sort of grey fog or mist.

He stalked close to her bed, Hana was paralyzed under the covers of her bed. She was unable to make a single sound, only to stare directly at it. He crouched near her.

 _I've been waiting for you_ , it seemed to whisper inside her head. _You don't know how long, Hana. But oh, it's been a very long time._ It got up and sat at the foot of the bed, looking at her. _And this time, I don't intend to let you slip away from me again._

For the next week, it returned. Every night. And every night since, she dreaded going back to sleep. She even begged Miss West to search the room one night before going to sleep to make sure the "ghost monster" wasn't there. Miss West did so, but of course found nothing, and reassured Hana that she probably just came across the phantasm that was haunting the house is all. That night, the figure came and did as it always did, watched her closely.

What Miss West said, though, gave Hana an idea.

"So," she said to Roddy one day in one of the sitting areas.

He looked up from his book. "Yeah?"

"Wanna go ghost hunting?" She explained to him about her recurring nightmare about the strange ghost monster and that she thought it perhaps had something to do with the phantasm. She also explained that she wanted to find the phantasm and try to scare it off. "So?"

Roddy closed his book and put it down. "That's insane and stupid." He agreed to help her anyway.

Hana found a massive butterfly net in one of the storage rooms and Roddy found a small armored torso and kitchen knife. He looked at her butterfly net. "It's a ghost, you think you're gonna catch it in a net?"

"What? And you think you're gonna what? Stab it to death? It's already dead!"

"At least my plan makes more sense that catching it in a net!"

Hana sighed. "Okay, this isn't the point of what we're doing anyway. We just wanna scare it to make it stop haunting me."

They made their way up to the third floor.

"See that's what's confusing me, though," Roddy said. "It's a phantasm. Phantasms don't scare, they try to hurt people."

"Well I am emotionally hurted, I think that counts."

Roddy shrugged his shoulders. "I guess…" They made it to the third floor and passed some fifteen-year-olds that gave them bewildered looks. "So, the thing we need to look out for is the wailing. Phantasms wail a lot."

"Shouldn't be too hard, wailing's a pretty distinctive thing."

"Let's start with the fourth floor."

They found the staircase leading to the fourth floor and entered a maze of corridors. They could hear a distant wailing, but it seemed to echo across the walls. Hana could feel for anybody on this floor trying to take a nap and hear the wails of a perpetually lost killer ghost. They navigated the seemingly endless labyrinth and found another hallway that seemed to lead onto an extension of the house to another part of the house. Hana looked out the windows and could see they were moving away from the main building of the mansion.

They entered the new area of the fourth floor that seemed to have a fifth floor. They heard the wails coming from upstairs and followed the noise. They came to the fifth floor, which seemed to be relatively small, and walked in on an unoccupied sitting area. Hana and Roddy split up and looked around. Hana came to a fireplace with a mirror attached above the mantle. As she passed the mirror she thought she saw, out of the corner of her eye, something move in the mirror. When she looked back to it, she saw nothing. She approached the mirror and peered at it closely.

Suddenly, when Roddy pulled back a curtain covering one of the stained glass windows, a loud, piercing scream rang in the air and a faintly grey figure popped out from behind the curtain. Roddy jumped back and swat around his kitchen knife. Each of his swings phased right through the phantasm as it glided closer toward him. Hana grabbed him by the arm as the phantasm reached out to clutch him and she thrusted him up and over to.

The phantasm looked nothing like the figure that had been appearing in her dreams, if anything it looked worse. It was bald, and it seemed to have scorch marks and sores all over its body, and what little clothes it wore were nothing more than heaping, shredded rags. It seemed almost skeletal, and zombie-ish. Definitely worse than the figure in her dreams.

Hana swung her butterfly net forward, but the net phased straight down through it. The phantasm looked at the netting on the floor, then sneered back at her, growling. Hana took Roddy by the nape of his armored torso and together they both bolted, Roddy dropping the knife. The phantasm screamed violently and chased after them. The two found the stairs down to the fourth floor and practically glided down them as the phantasm was right on their tail. They ran through the fourth floor of the second house connected to the mansion and found themselves cornered at a large, circular spider web-etched window. The phantasm found them and gave a harrowing screech as it made to lunge forward.

Suddenly, Mrs. Young appeared and leapt spritely into action. Hana and Roddy's jaws dropped as the meek and fragile-looking old woman shot a jinx at it with her wand and the phantasm was flung backwards. It shook itself off, then glared at Mrs. Young, who shouted something in Mandarin. The phantasm gave a loud, long, guttural scream at her and lunged for her. She summoned a flurry of flowers and sparks that threw the phantasm straight toward the window and made it collapse to the ground. It, however, phased through the floor instead of simply just collapsing.

"Go, now," Mrs. Young shouted. She pointed at Hana and Roddy. "You two, you hide now!"

Roddy was the first to bolt immediately, but Hana looked back toward the spot on the floor where the phantasm disappeared. She backed up slowly. Then, the phantasm reappeared, reaching up through the floor and rising up. Hana yelped, turned, and ran after Roddy. The two caught up with each other, and ran a good distance down the hallway until they heard another distant wail.

"What do we do?!" Roddy yelled.

Hana stopped at an unassuming door that had the words "Miss C.W." in gold letters on it. She shrugged and opened it. Roddy followed her inside. Inside was a burst of pinks and rainbows. Pink chairs and sofas, rainbow-colored shawls and drapery, as well as lavishly detailed oriental rugs. On the far side of the room was a standard executive's desk with a rainbow-colored stained glass lamp. On the right side of the room seemed to be a tall mahogany wardrobe that seemed to stretch all the way to the ceiling.

As the two looked around the room. Hana could see a carpet bag made of an ornamental rug. She gasped.

"What?" Roddy said.

"This is Miss West's room!"

"Whoah!" He exclaimed. He then gave the room another turn. "Where is she?"

"I don't know…" She walked over to the desk, then to the bookshelf behind the desk.

"Where's her bed?" He said, admiring the woodwork on the wardrobe. He then thought he could see that there were was a blanket and sheets, and pillows resting against the back wall of the wardrobe. He tried to move the wardrobe out in order to get a better look, but the wardrobe collapsed forward.

Hana turned abruptly, still holding a photo album she pulled off the shelf.

Roddy's hands had come up to his mouth, and his eyes were as wide as she'd ever seen them.

The wardrobe, however, was no longer a wardrobe, but a proper bed. Roddy's eyebrows furrowed, and he crouched down to look underneath. Sure enough, he could see the doors of the drobe latched to the bottom of the bed. He stood up and marveled at the whole thing.

Hana giggled, then returned to the photo album. She'd opened it to the first page before Roddy messed with the wardrobe. The page had a moving picture of a little baby she could only assume was Miss West. She smiled as she continued turning the pages of a young Miss West growing up through the years. She then saw a picture of Miss West in a beautiful silk white dress with, of course, flowers and butterflies in her wild and bright orange hair. She was holding another man, tall and lanky with dark blond hair in a bowl cut and pronounced sideburns, by the arms and they were looking happily at the camera. They then kissed on the lips before looking back at the camera.

"Whoah, Miss West was married?"

"Really?" Roddy said, after giving up on trying to put the bed back up. He walked over to Hana and looked at the picture. "Wow, and to a guy that looks like that? She really is a surprise."

"I don't know, I think they look cute together," Hana said, shrugging

She turned the page again and it was another picture of her with her husband, who was now sporting horn-rimmed glasses and a bushy mustache. Hana did have to admit, she was surprised with Miss West's taste in boys. She turned the page again and this time it was a picture of the two next to another couple, a woman somewhat younger than her with straightened strawberry blonde hair who had one of her arms around the waist of a dark skinned man in a pin-stripped suit and a pronounced trilby hat, his smile was wide and it seemed like a smile Hana would give.

"I wonder who they are," Roddy said.

Hana nodded, then turned the page. This time it was Miss West holding up an infant with a lighter dark skin than that of the man's but she seemed to have similar features to that of the strawberry-haired woman. Miss West was kissing her on the forehead and hugging her tightly. Hana turned to the next page and this time it was solely a picture of a little black girl, same shade of dark skin as the baby, so Hana assumed this was the same girl. But something was peculiar about her.

"Hey," Roddy said. "She kinda looks like you a little bit."

"Yeah…"

"Oh my!"

The two turned to see Miss West entering the room. "Well- Now what are you two doing in here? This is a lady's room, Mr. Salvatore!"

"Oh- Um- I-"

"Well," Miss West crouched briefly to grab the underside of the bed and lift it upright to where it was standing as a wardrobe before. "Are you at least alright? Mrs. Young told me about the phantasm. Roddy, what on earth are you wearing?"

Roddy looked down at himself as though he wasn't aware he was still wearing the armored torso. "Um…"

"Oh, Hana!" She fast-walked quickly up to them and took the photo album from Hana almost too forcibly. "This isn't yours." She put it back on the shelf and turned back to the two of them. "It's not polite to go through someone's things."

"I… I know," Hana said.

"I just… We just…" Roddy followed.

Miss West brought her hands up and gestured for them to relax. "It's okay, you didn't mean to come in here. Now, the phantasm's been chased off to the attic for now, so how about you run along, it's safe."

They both nodded and made their way to the door. Roddy opened the door and walked out, but Hana lingered for a bit, looking back at Miss West. She quirked her lips and thought for a moment, then followed Roddy out the door. The rest of the day was spent uneventful, as Hana mostly spent it thinking about the photo album.

That night, the figure did return, but this time, its routine was interrupted. Just as it stalked forward from the far side of the room, an arrow was shot in from the window, hitting the wall on Hana's side of the room. The figure stopped, and seemed to turn around floatily. Another figure entered the room, a copper skinned one with long straw-like black hair. He was wearing a jean jacket and faded blue jeans, and had a red bandana covering the lower half of his face. A sheath of arrows was strapped to his back, and dozens of different colored pouches hung from his belt. He readied another arrow and held it back with his bow, aimed directly at the figure.

It sneered at him. He shot the arrow but the figure dissipated, almost as though it wasn't even there.

The man turned to Hana, whose eyes were still wide open with a paralyzed fear. He crouched next to her bed, then pulled out a dreamcatcher from his jacket pocket. It looked almost identical to the one Hana had at the orphanage. No… it was exactly identical to the one from the orphanage, she thought. He placed it on her bedside table and seemed to communicate something with her in his eyes - _don't lose it this time._

He then opened one of his pouches and pulled out a palm full of shiny, gold dust, then flung it at her. She swore the dust seemed to immediately turn into a poof of gold sparkles hovering over her and falling onto her slowly. She then could feel her eyes growing heavy, and before she knew it, her eyes were closed.

Then she found herself waking in the morning. She yawned and stretched out her arms, realizing she had never felt better than she had ever felt once since she had the strange dreams. She looked around the room and everything looked the same as it had always been. Then she looked to her bedside table and gasped, practically jumped out of her bed. The dreamcatcher was there, sitting on her bedside table, exactly where the man had put it in her dream.

Does that mean, she thought, that it was never really a dream at all?


	6. The Journey To Ilvermorny

The figure never came back in her dreams after the encounter with the man. In fact, she seemed to have a lack of dreams. A lack of memorable ones at least. Her dreams had always been vibrant before the figure showed up, colorful, whimsical. But now, nothing. Whenever she slept it was like the world around her turned into a haze, and simply recalling anything was a strain.

But she decided not to worry about the dreams, at least not the ones she was having now. Instead, she focused more on the one dream, the last dream she could really remember - the one with the man and the bow and arrow. What on earth did it mean? And how on earth could it have been real? Yet the dreamcatcher still laid there on her bedside table, she dared not even touch it.

Roddy took notice of her distant stare at breakfast one day. He waved a hand in front of her, snapping his fingers. She blinked and shook her head slightly, focusing back on him. "Where did you go?" He said.

"Nowhere, nothing," she said. "What were you saying?"

He continued on about some books he was reading on potions and magical herbs, and Hana smiled at how invested and fascinated he was with them. Her mind still drifted to the dreamcatcher. She wondered if maybe she should tell somebody about it even though she still wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. Was anything about the mysterious figure and the equally mysterious man real? How would she ever know? She made sure to return attention to Roddy before he noticed she wasn't paying attention.

She admired how much Roddy loved reading some of the more boring books in the house, he seemed to be actively curious about everything around him, always wanted to know more. She noticed he had a slight more interest in plants and potions, potions he would go on and on about.

"Did you know that there's a potion that can make you look like somebody else?" He said, his eyes practically bulging in enthusiasm. "That's so cool! And also kinda scary! Somebody could pretend to be like you with a single potion. There's also another potion that can make you age really fast. And another one that-" This went on for a while until he ran out of potions he'd read about. Hana always found it endearing.

Every couple of days, Miss West would take many children to a nearby wizard marketplace called Tangen Town (it was more of a large alley or a small district than a town). While there the children that went with her would go to ice cream parlors and confectionaries or to the joke shop Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. There was also a wand repair and replacement shop where Hana and Roddy went to try out a few wands. Miss West explained to them that they'd get their own wands at Ilvermorny as part of the sorting ceremony.

The rest of the summer went by quickly, to Hana's disappointment. Roddy reminded her that at least they'd finally get to see Ilvermorny, which made Hana perk up a bit more. Nothing more happened that seemed odd during the summer, which only made Hana's apprehension increase until the day came that it was time to go to Ilvermorny.

Miss West knocked on Hana's door and dragged in huge brown leather trunk with the initial "H.D." on top of it. She gestured broadly. "This is your new luggage, Hana."

Hana's mouth dropped. "This big thing is for me? I don't think I have enough stuff to fill it!"

"Well, you will. In time." Miss West smiled at her. "Get ready, and get packing! We're leaving the house at 10 am sharp!" She turned and left Hana's room.

The krazy kab was parked right in front of the entrance gate to the Winchester property and Jeremy was at the trunk, pushing luggage into its compartment. Hana came outside, dragging her very light trunk filled with what little she had brought to the house and what little was given to her since she got there in June.

Miss West was scribbling on a notepad mumbling to herself. "August 24th, 9:45 on schedule. Have to get the tickets, that'll be several dragots. The subway leaves at 10:30 so we've gotta get everyone situated…"

Hana put her trunk next to Jeremy who just finished putting Roddy's luggage inside. He turned to Hana and winked at her before putting her trunk inside the compartment. He pushed down somewhat, but Hana could see that her luggage fit in pretty well. She thought to wonder on how, but she shrugged to herself. It's magic, she thought.

Miss West closed her notebook and put it in a coat pocket with her pen. She clapped her hands and looked around at all the children gathered around the cab. "Alright everybody! Just leave your luggage next to Jeremy and let's start getting inside the cab." She opened the back passenger door and gestured toward it. Kids began moving forward. "We'll be leaving very soon."

Hana walked up to Miss West, Roddy waited for her. "Excuse me, Miss."

Miss West nodded her.

"Isn't Ilvermorny in Massachusetts? I know the cab is fast, but is it really that fast? We're in California."

Miss West chuckled. "Well, you are right we're not taking the cab all the way to Ilvermorny. But don't you worry about traveling, dear. We don't call it magic for no reason."

Hana nodded, more confused than before she asked her question.

Roddy followed after Hana inside the krazy kab, which now seemed to have become bigger and much more like a limo than it had looked before. Hana and Roddy sat next to each other and rested back. Lulu appeared, seeming from nowhere, and hopped up onto Hana's lap. Hana raised an eyebrow and was curious as to how Lulu got out of his cage, which should be in the trunk compartment.

After everyone got into the now limo-style cab, and after Jeremy finished filling the trunk compartment, he took the driver's seat and Miss West joined him up front in the passenger seat. She looked back through the window and told everyone to hold on before Jeremy kicked the cab into gear and lurched forward.

This time, it didn't nearly take as long as it did to get to Saglant Square, quite the contrary Hana felt as though they were barely in the cab for maybe two or three minutes until the cab came to a halt. One of the older kids opened the door and got out, holding the door open for everyone else as Miss West got out as well. Lulu hopped off of Hana's lap and scurried off out of the door.

Hana and Roddy got out of the cab and looked around and gasped. In front of Hana was a building with a Sephora sign and on the other side of the cab behind them was a large marquee that read "El Capitan". Hana looked below her on the sidewalk to see glittering red and gold stars with names of famous people she'd heard of dozens of times.

"We're in Hollywood?!"

"Of course," Miss West said as she passed them to go toward the back of the cab. "What better place to board a magical train than a place paved with stars?" She winked at the two of them.

Jeremy gave Hana her luggage and held out Lulu's cage, puzzled there was no cat in it. He then looked down at the Siamese cat that was patting its paw on his leg, gesturing for him to lower the cage. Lulu walked into the cage, and calmly laid himself down in it as Jeremy closed and locked it.

Hana picked up the cage, took her trunk by the handle and followed Roddy across the street, where Miss West was now, standing at the ticket window. Hana glanced at the Disney sign just above the Ghirardelli sign as she and Roddy came up behind Miss West, handling dragots and tickets.

"I wonder how accurate Disney movies are to all this magic stuff."

"Oh fairly accurate, you'll find," Miss West said, still counting her dragots as the ticket master held her tickets patiently. "After all, Mr. Disney was a Thunderbird." She pushed the money forward, and the man in the window handed her a large pile of theater tickets. Miss West turned around and handed two to Roddy and Hana.

Hana looked at her ticket and furrowed her brow. The ticket read:

 **EL CAPITAN**

 _THE AMERICAN UNDERGROUND SUBWAY SYSTEM_

 _ILVERMORNY EXPRESS_

 _(A.U.S.S.I.E.)_

LOS ANGELES PORT

STUDENT PASS - THEATER 3

"Miss West," Hana said. "This says theater three, but isn't there only one?"

"Yeah, Roddy followed. "Also how are we gonna get into the subway from a movie theater?"

Miss West laughed. "Don't ask questions, it's magic children." She walked past the ticket booth and made her way toward the door. She pushed open one of the double doors and went inside. Hana and Roddy followed her and did as well.

As soon as they did, they walked into a humongous green and white marble chamber with tall open windows letting in bright lights that shone on golden bannisters and spires and statues. Above, hanging from the ceiling was a big clock with windows jutting from its rim with words etched into them:

IMMEDIATE CAL. AREA LINE - SOON

ILVERMORNY E. LINE - SOON

P. WEST LINE - 35 MIN.

SPANISH-AMERICAN R.E. LINE - 55 MIN.

EAST INDUST. R. LINE - 70 MIN.

As more kids the same age as Hana and Roddy filed in, equally as amazed, Miss West ushered them in closer forward so that other wizards could move past them. She took out her wand from her opal cane and waved it. Hana could feel her pockets get heavier slightly for some reason.

"Now," Miss West shouted as more children strolled in and up to their group. "I've just put ten dragots in your pockets. Concession stand is," she pointed up the double staircase "seats to your theater are," she gestured behind her down the tunnel with a staircase that led lower down. "Don't be late for the timestamp on your ticket. The train is punctual, you will miss it." She locked her wand back into her cane and waved forward. "Go on!"

The kids immediately dispersed. Some went up the stairs, others went down through the tunnel, and some dawdled, looking around their surroundings. Hana and Roddy agreed to go get snacks, and so walked up the emerald green marble staircase up to the second floor where a large concession stand was stood. A sizable line of people stood in front of the stand, some of the were children. On the right and left sides were stands where people were placing their luggage and checking them in.

Hana looked at her ticket and the time said 10:15 though she could see the 5 change to a 4, then to a 5, then to a 7, then back to a 4 - as though the ticket couldn't make up its mind. Roddy revealed they had the same theater, so decided to stand in line together. After checking in their luggage - Hana saying goodbye to Lulu for the time being, they approached the concession stand. They noticed the menu had a lot of strange items, aside from the usual things like popcorn and hot dogs. The candies in particular seemed odd:

Chocolate frog OR hodag, includes collectible wizard cards

Skull candy

Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans

Moody Beans

Snaprocks

Gummy jacks

Pumpkin pops

The drink section also included a few odd names like "sippacider" and "gigglewater".

Out of curiosity, Hana and Roddy decided to buy almost everything on the menu. Hana wanted to try the gummy jacks, snaprocks, and Bertie Botts beans. Roddy chose one chocolate frog and one chocolate hodag, and also purchase a bag of skull candy. With their small bags of candies, the two made their way down the stairs and through the tunnel that led even further down. They came to a long hallway, with rounded doors on the sides with large gold numbers at the top of each door. The two stopped at a door to their left with the number 3 and opened it.

They walked into a fairly large theater, red satin bathed all over it. The wide screen at the end of it looked old, but fairly taken care of. The theater wasn't packed, and Hana assumed that most Ilvermorny students were taking up the first two theaters. The two chose seats near the front row and waited. On the screen, an old black-and-white cartoon was playing.

They decided to start sharing their candies. Roddy opened his bag of skull candies, and handed one to Hana. She had a bright pink one with lime green and bright blue designs and etchings all over it. As she went to eat it, the head started to move.

"Ay dios!"

She yelped slightly.

"Well!" The tiny skull candy was speaking, in a thick accent. "It is about time somebody picked me out!"

"You're telling me!" The other skull Roddy was holding, which was a bright blue with yellow etchings exclaimed. "Feel like I've been waiting diez siglos!"

The pink one cackled. It looked at Hana. "Ay, niñita linda, don't be shy. I promise I taste very good!"

"You…" Hana said. "You can talk."

"Sí, why would you eat something that wasn't absolutely sure it wanted to be eaten?"

Hana looked at Roddy, who seemed just as uncomfortable as she was.

"Go on, go on!" Said the blue one. It then began singing loudly and boldly, a Spanish ballad.

The pink one joined in.

Hana and Roddy looked at each other once more then popped the skulls into their mouths, cutting the song short. Roddy quietly and calmly sealed the bag and put it back into the bigger bag.

As the two sucked and chewed on their skull candies, the lights dimmed and the cartoon short on screen ended. Pronounced trumpets sounded from the screen and big words appeared stating "ILVERMORNY EXPRESS, INCOMING!" It then cut to a shot of a subway station, people crowding on the platform. A shining metal pod-shaped train could be seen in the distance. The frame never once changed, the shot remained steady. Hana tilted her head to the side in confusion. The train kept coming closer and closer toward the camera. As it did, Hana could swear she heard the sound of a train whistle booming all around her, but not as though it was coming from speakers. Like it was coming from an oncoming train.

Hana peered at the screen now. Could it be? How were they supposed to go into the screen?

The train was now rushing closer and closer toward the camera, getting bigger and bigger until suddenly it seemed to pop out of the screen, rushing toward the audience dead on. Then, Hana and Roddy, and the other kids inside the theater, found themselves sitting on benches in a subway tunnel as the train whizzed past them. Hana and Roddy turned to each other, wide-eyed exhilarated expressions on their faces.

The train began to slow down until it came to a full stop. A conductor wearing a cranberry-colored uniform stepped out of one of the doors and called for boarding passes. Hana and Roddy jumped from their seats and made their way toward the conductor. Hana looked down at her ticket and could see it had changed significantly to look more like a train's boarding pass. She and Roddy showed their passes to the conductor, who punched two holes into their passes and waved them along.

* * *

Hana and Roddy had been so entranced by the train's many compartments that it took them nearly twenty minutes just to finally make it to the sitting compartment. Firstly, the train cars were most certainly larger inside than outside. They weren't chasmous like the subway station was, many compartments seemed to be various sizes of tall, narrow, wide, or short, and it seemed to depend on the type of compartment it was.

One car seemed to be a study and library, with students already selecting out books to read on the train ride, and others passed out over opened books and scattered papers. Books also seemed to float all over the place. Hana figured Roddy would make his way here eventually.

Another car looked like a fine dining restaurant with curved booths, long dining tables, and lounge areas next to a mini-bar. Hana wondered how old she'd have to be to drink anything Ms. Brookes deemed "inappropriate" and "sinful". They walked past a greenhouse car, and Hana had to practically drag Roddy out of that one. From there, they came into the animal and luggage car which was seemingly the tallest one. Hana didn't see Lulu on their way through it, but she assumed he was in here.

They also passed through a car that seemed to be a general common area, as it was both wide and tall, with three stories, sofas and lounge chairs were strewn about, and many older kids were playing gobstones (which Hana had also learned about while at the ward house) and trading cards. She also saw a few kids playing on gameboys and other assorted devices. There was also another mini-bar in here.

They then had passed into a fairly rudimentary car, it seemed like a standard train car only it had four bathroom stalls occupying each corner of the compartment. They passed on into a nearly identical common area car and from there into a two story general seating compartment. The two couldn't find any open compartments on the first floor so decided to go up.

Before she and Roddy took to the narrowly rounded iron-clad staircase to the second floor on the right, Hana looked on and could see the next few cars were all general seating. She followed Roddy up to the second floor and they found a compartment in the far corner of the car.

Upon sitting down, they started opening their candies. Roddy placed his bag of skull candy on the opposite side of the compartment. Hana popped a couple of snaprocks into her mouth and she could feel explosion going off in her mouth, turning from sour to sweet, to salty, to fruity, in an assortment of wildly different flavors.

Roddy commented that it looked like her face and hair were also changing colors. He took the bag of candy and did the same as her. Suddenly it seemed like he was turning varying shades of blue and pink and green and yellow. His hair also instantly stood upright.

They both laughed as the snaprocks' effects wore off and their hair turned back to normal.

Hana unloosened the pouch of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans and pulled out a card. "Hmm." She said.

"What is it?"

"It says here that Bertie Botts makes a variety of odd flavors you wouldn't normally see, like bacon and coffee and cream puff."

"Ooh, sounds cool."

She furrowed her brow and sucked in a breath. "Ew there's a vomit one."

"Gross."

"I don't wanna eat that."

Roddy shook his head. "Uh-uh. You bought it you have to eat it."

Hana groaned and put the card aside. "Only if you do it with me."

"But what if _I_ get the vomit one?"

"Pleeeeease?" She pouted her lips. "Pretty please?"

Roddy sighed, then held out his hand.

Hana averted her eyes as she picked out one bean and placed it in his hand, then placed another in her hand. She put the pouch down and turned to Roddy. "On three, kay?"

He nodded.

"One… two… three!"

They each downed their beans.

Hana scrunched her face and titled it to the side. "It tastes like I ate dish soap."

Roddy seemed equally puzzled. "I'm not sure how I know this, but I think mine was earwax."

Hana shrugged. "I guess not everything has to be as good as snaprocks." She placed the pouch of Bertie Botts next to the skull candy.

"I agree," Roddy said. "Let's try that one again and see if it's still as good."

Hana nodded and they popped more snaprocks into their mouths.

Several hours passed, the train made more stops now and then. Roddy, as Hana knew, had gone to the library and greenhouse cars, getting as much reading and studying done as possible. Hana simply people-watched in the common area cars, enjoying the fun people were having.

Eventually when the conductor announced for students to begin returning to the seating compartments as they were pulling into Winnipeg, Canada, Hana found Roddy burying his nose in another book. She pulled him by the collar and he followed her. As they made their way, they passed a sandy-haired boy still sitting in one of the common areas, who seemed to recognize Hana.

"Hana!"

She turned to him and realized she recognized him. "Oh, Ronan! Hi."

He bounced up and walked over to them. "I figured I'd see you eventually here." He turned to Roddy, an eyebrow raised. "Can I help you?"

Roddy blinked. "I… No?"

Hana giggled. "This is Roddy, he's my friend. We met a while ago."

"Oh…" Ronan lingered precariously on Roddy, then shrugged. "Well, anyway, I'm excited about getting to Ilvermorny. It's about time. Figured out what house you'll be going into?"

"Well, I found out my mom was in Thunderbird actually. So maybe I might get into there?"

Ronan chuckled. "Thunderbird is nice, but in my opinion it has nothing against Wampus." He turned to Roddy, turning his chin up. "And, you?"

"I don't know," Roddy said. "Thunderbird sounds fine to me, but also Pukwudgie."

"Well, what house is your family in?"

"Oh, um," Roddy's gaze fell. "Well actually, I'm not from a magical family."

"Wait," Hana said. "You're not?"

Roddy shook my head. "I knew both my parents, and I know for a fact they weren't wizards."

"Thought as much," Ronan said. "You just have that look about you, that noborn look."

"Noborn?" Hana asked.

"No-maj-born? People born to no-majs?" Ronan said. "Figured you'd know that."

"How?" Hana crossed her arms. "I wasn't raised with magical parents, remember? I was raised in a no-maj orphanage."

Ronan paused briefly, before returning to a smug expression. "Oh, wow, I'm so sorry to hear that-"

"Why? I grew up perfectly fine, and so did Roddy."

"I didn't-"

"Yeah, but that's what it sounded like." She took Roddy's hand. "Come on, we need to go sit down."

She and Roddy passed Ronan and made way for the seating compartments.

Roddy looked at her. "You didn't have to defend me, you know."

"Of course I did," she replied. "I hated the way he looked at you, like nothing you said meant anything to him. It was mean." When they reached their compartment she turned to him. "Why didn't you tell me your parents weren't magical?"

Roddy shrugged. "I assumed you knew. I didn't know yours were, but I just figured almost everybody in the ward house were noborn."

"Don't say that word."

"Why? It's the word for people like me - people who come from no magic, from nothing. I don't mind it. If there's any place I'd rather be from, I'm happy if it's nothing." He opened the door. "At least I can still make myself _something_." He walked in and sat down.

Hana pursed her lips and sighed, then followed him.

A while later once the train began to move, a girl walked past their compartment door. Neither of them made note of this and continued with their new little game. Roddy said the wandmaker at Tangen Town taught him a magic trick that only wizards and witches can do and he invited Hana to play it with him.

The girl came back and stood in front of their compartment, looking in through the window. She knocked on the window and opened the door slightly. She had deep, auburn hair that rested on her shoulders and a few freckles on her face. She was wearing a white and pink stripped cardigan and faded jeans.

Hana and Roddy turned to her.

"Um," she said, meekly. "Hi, can I share your compartment? Everyone else is full."

They both nodded and she took a see across from them, pushing aside the skull candy and Bertie Botts.

She turned to them. "Also, if you see a frog around his name is 'Norman', he apparently belongs to a boy named Gil." Her eyes widen. "Oh, are you two doing magic?"

"Yeah… sort of." Roddy said. "It's a magic trick that someone showed me."

"Cool, can I see?"

Roddy did a swinging motion with his arms, then snapped his fingers. Only a light spark flew off his fingertips. Roddy tilted his head in confusion.

Hana and the other began to giggle.

Roddy's shoulders slumped. "It looked more impressive than that."

"It's okay," the girl said. "Here, let me try."

She did the same exact motions as he did, then when she snapped her fingers a modest flame sprang to life above her hand. The other two marveled at it as the girl played with it along her fingertips before extinguishing it by closing her fist. "It's all in the wrist, I think."

Roddy murmured.

The girl held her hand out. "I'm Abby Illis."

Hana took it. "Hana Dow. That's Roddy." She gestured to Roddy, who waved. She hadn't noticed it before, but Hana could hear that Abby had a slight Canadian drawl to her words. "Are you from Canada?"

Abby nodded. "Yeah, from Ontario."

"Canadians go to Ilvermorny?" Roddy said.

"Oh yeah. Ilvermorny feeds into all over North America, even some of Mexico."

The other two awed.

"I take it you guys are noborn, since you don't know much, eh?" She giggled.

Hana refrained from saying anything mean. "Uh, no actually. My parents were magical, but I was raised in a no-maj orphanage."

"I am, though," Roddy said.

"Cool." Abby smiled. "My mum works closely with no-majs in the Ontario government. It's how she and my dad can even afford to send me and my brothers to Ilvermorny every year."

"You have siblings?"

Abby nodded. "Six. I'm the only girl." She chuckled. "Two of my brothers are actually still going to Ilvermorny, they're with their friends right now."

Hana and Roddy began to ask her questions about what it was like living in the wizarding world, to which Abby answered in stride. Things were a bit different in Canada than in America, but still Hana and Roddy found it all fascinating. Apparently Canada employed more uses of flying cars for transportation, which Hana found most interesting.

Abby mentioned that her seventeen-year-old brother Warburt, was elected president of the student body for this year, and her other brother Jaime was made Thunderbird prefect. She thought it was embarrassing to be known as the sister of both a student president and a prefect, and thought it added a lot of pressure on her. She also mentioned she had a pet "crup" - which was like a magical Scottish terrier - that she was allowed to bring with her as a pet at Ilvermorny. Hana was not eager to find out how her cat would be getting along with her dog.

The travel to Ilvermorny by subway was a very long one, that took about three days when it started from New York. From Los Angeles it was reduced to a two-day journey. Hana found it quite bored, but saw that several older kids that actually possessed wands were able to entertain themselves much better. She'd been told that wand selecting was part of the sorting ceremony at Ilvermorny, but two days was so long to wait. Roddy spent most of his time in the library and greenhouse cars, so whenever Abby wasn't at the dining car she and Hana would hangout in the common areas.

Eventually, though, they began to pass through Pennsylvania and the conductor told students over the P.A. to put on their cranberry cloaks and Ilvermorny pins - they would soon be pulling in to Spukquodtchikkup station.

"Spuk-what?" Hana said.

Abby laughed. "It's the village at the base of Ilermorny."

"Base?" Roddy asked.

Abby nodded. "First years have to hike up the mountain to the castle."

Roddy laughed. "You're kidding, right?"

Abby smiled awkwardly.

"Please. Tell me you're kidding."

Abby shook her head.

Hana gawked. "They tell us this now, when we can't turn back."

Abby waved her hands. "Oh come on, you big babies! It's just a walk."

"Uphill," Roddy said.

"At night," Hana said.

Abby rolled her eyes and they all walked back inside the compartment.

Hana went through her backpack and pulled out the long, silky cranberry cloak and draped it on over her shoulders. "Why are we wearing this weird-lookin' purple thing?"

"It's like…" Roddy said, as he struggled putting his pin onto his own cloak. "Symbolic of one of the founders or something like that."

"We don't gotta wear anything else, right? Just the cloak over our clothes?"

"Yep," Abby said. She twirled around with her perfectly placed cloak and pin. Her cardigan and jeans still shown underneath.

Hana took the pin out from her backpack, the same pin she found in her letter, and placed on the left side of her chest. She pat it a bit, then sat back down. She turned to Roddy who began to open a chocolate hodag box. "You're eating that thing now? What if it's gone bad?"

"It's chocolate?" Roddy said. He picked up a bag of gummy jacks and handed it to Hana. "It's all candy. Candy doesn't go bad."

"You've never had rotten candy ever, have you?" Hana raised an eyebrow as she began to grab a gummy jack.

"Be careful with those," Abby said, just as a small jackalope-shaped gummy candy hopped out from the bag and onto the floor.

Roddy yelped as a small brown animal also hopped out of the box he was holding.

"You two have the absolute worst luck," Abby said.

* * *

The train pulled into the outdoor station and everyone almost unanimously ran off and onto the platform. A house elf-looking creature - though it seemed bigger and hairier than a house elf - was taking carry on bags just off the platform shouting loud things - many of which were debatably inappropriate.

"First years! No backpacks, no satchels, no purses! The journey up the mountain is perilous! You could be risking your lives even showing ya faces!"

Hana, Roddy, and Abby looked worrisome.

"No they won't!" One older student shouted as the mass of older students made their way to a line of carriages.

"Stop telling people the mountain is dangerous!" Another older student shouted.

The little hairy beast groaned and gargled. "They don't know that! I'm getting them in the mood! Yeesh!" He hopped around. "Just leave yer backpacks and whatnots here!"

Hana put her backpack onto the pile of small bags, as did Abby and Roddy.

The hairy creature bowed to them.

The three of them followed the mass of kids that looked their age and came across a giant hairy ape-man, whose top hair seemed to be combed back. He was wearing a blue sweater vest and grey pants that seemed more like capri pants by how small they seemed to fit on him. He was holding a large old-fashioned lantern and an ornate shepherd's stick. "Hmm." His voice so low it seemed to almost boom with every inflection. Hana looked down at his bare feet and gasped at how huge they were. "Much little wizards this time." He nodded. "Much little wizards to be watching. Oh little wizards! Do we have all little wizards?"

Hana looked around, as did many of the other students.

The ape-man nodded convincingly. "Then we go, little wizards! Up, up, up the mountain trail." The giant ape-man began walking forward, though his massive steps seemed to practically leap him further and further from the students. "But stay on trail, yes little wizards! Stay on trail and don't follow trees, no matter what you see!"

As they followed the pathway's curved banks and uphill steeps, Hana thought briefly many times that she saw movement in the shadow of the woods here and there, and also strange whispers and noises as well. Other trails and paths branched off into parts of the woods, but the children made sure to follow the path of the massive ape-man in front of them. Roddy was heaving and sweating from the hike up, and Hana was pretty sure she head Ronan snickering from behind them.

The sunset was beginning to disappear by the time students got their first glimpse at Ilvermorny Castle: it was signified by a tall, wide turret broch tower, and many of the fifteen towers were visible from the angle the students had as well. The granite on the castle glistening in the setting sun's rays and the now bright moonlight in the sky. The castle also seemed to be draped in a light mist that gave it a more enchanting, yet creepy sensation.

The large ape-man swung his lantern, gesturing to the castle. "Look, Ilvermorny!"

Hana took in a deep breath. She was finally here. She was finally at Ilvermorny.


	7. The Gordian Knot

The crowd of anxious first-years strolled past a huddle of coniferous trees. Hana could still swear as though there whispers all around them - as though the trees were talking.

"The kids these years," one said.

"I know I say it every year, but they keep getting smaller and smaller," said another.

"And skinnier, most of them look like they're famished."

"Skinny, you think? I say this country's obesity levels are through the roof!"

A sound that could only be described as a collective groan seemed to come from the surrounding trees. She also heard a distant voice hiss "Not this _again_ , Gerald."

As the ape-man led the pack of thoroughly confused children forward, they came to a limestone staircase that led up to a set of tall double doors, flanked on both ends by ornate, glittering granite statues - one of a man and the other of a woman. Another hairy creature like the one at the train station knelt at the base of the woman's statue, polishing it with a soapy rag. The creature sneered at the children as they walked up the staircase toward the double doors.

At the doors was Miss West in a long, flowing black robe with a magenta shawl wrapped around her. She wore a pointed black hat with a peacock feather sticking out of it. She seemed to notice Hana immediately, and her smile grew bigger that well-defined her laughter lines. The students stopped just at the landing and their own hushed whispers slowly came to a halt.

A girl with bouncing blonde curls nearly pushed into Hana as she stopped. She briefly glanced at Hana, huffed, then rolled her eyes. Hana furrowed her brow, and then rolled her own eyes, but returned her attention front.

"Welcome, boys and girls, to Ilvermorny," Miss West said. "Thank you for taking them this far, Barnabas!" She waved behind them to the large ape-man that guided them up the mountain. "I'll see later tonight."

"Yes, yes, Mrs. West!" The big thing shouted back. "And bring pie!"

"It's just 'Miss' and…" She laughed. "Yes, of course I'll bring pie."

He laughed, a sound which shook the nearby trees, and he bounce-skipped away back the way they came.

"I always bring pie," she said, shrugging. She cleared her throat. "Now, I trust you all found yourselves well?"

Everybody nodded, muttering and whatnot.

"Good. Now, before we go inside, I will tell you a bit about our history. A long time ago, when the English came to the New World, a woman, a witch, named Isolt Sayre came. She came to escape another life, a terrible life. And when she did escape it, she found a new one. One made with love, and friendship, and community. With her new family, she made a school for magic, and over the years this school grew and grew, until it became a castle, and the most well known school for witchcraft and wizardry in the Americas."

Hana noticed that the hairy creature polishing the statue of what she now could only assume was Isolt Sayre, he stopped polishing and had his full attention on Miss West.

"Today, we carry on her tradition of teaching magic, and family. Here you will each be represented by four houses, and while you're here your houses will be like your family. Good deeds and remarkable feats will win you points, and any rule-breaking will lose you points. At the end of the year the house with the most points is awarded the house cup.

"Doubtless there are many of you who already know what the houses are, but for those of you without the privilege - they are Thunderbird, Horned Serpent, Pukwudgie, and Wampus." She seemed to glance at Ronan when she mentioned Wampus. "Emblems of the natural magical order in the Americas. Chosen by the founders of Ilvermorny themselves - Isolt Sayre, who chose the Horned Serpent, James Steward who chose the Pukwudgie, Chadwick Boot who chose the Thunderbird, and Webster Boot who chose the Wampus. The four creatures are sacred on these grounds-"

The hairy creature snorted as though it found this statement funny, put his rag into a nearby bucket, and walked off.

Miss West shook her head at this and continued. "-and as such, we must ask that you do not provoke them when approached. Now while we promote a healthy dose of house rivalry, we do encourage you that all houses are like family. For it is as it was centuries ago, it shall be so on this day, these houses are united by the blood of our ancestors and by the bonds of a family made of broken people.

"You will be sorted by the Gordian Knot at the center of the Grand Cupola, enchanted and imbued with the forces of the four houses. At the four edges of the chamber are statues of the four emblems of Ilvermorny. When you walk up to the Gordian Knot, you are to place your hand over it, and let the houses choose you." A murmur came from some of the students. "Yes, that's right. It's possible that they may _all_ choose you."

Dead silence.

"But here in Ilvermorny, it is not by fate you are chosen, but by destiny. By will. Even if all four houses choose you, you must decide where you will go. What path you will follow, what journey calls out to you. I know it may seem scary to make a decision like that, but trust yourself. Trust who you are. Trust your power. The thing inside you, that guides you, that knows you, it will never lead you astray." She nodded. "Now, wait out here for a moment." She turned, opened one of the double doors and went inside, closing it behind her.

As the muttering of every first-year began up again, Hana felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to her left behind her and saw that Ronan had made his way to her. She groaned and turned forward.

"Hey, hey!" He said. "I don't think you're giving me a fair shake!"

Hana turned back to him, her eyebrows raised.

"Look, I swear, I didn't mean anything by your friend on the train."

Abby overheard and looked back to Ronan. "Who's he?"

Roddy noticed this and turned back as well.

"Um, I-" Ronan began.

"This," Hana cut him off. "Is Ronan. He acted very rude to Roddy on the train before you showed up."

"Nuh-uh, really?" Abby said.

"Okay, seriously," Ronan said. "I don't even know him!"

"Yeah you don't know him," Hana said. "Maybe get to know him before deciding you're better than him just cause he's born from no-majs."

The other girl just behind Hana's right shoulder giggled. Hana didn't feel like acknowledging that.

"Hey," Ronan said. "It's not my fault we're born from different families! I just meant that it's easy to tell who's born from a no-maj or not. What's up with getting defensive about that?"

"Because, he's my friend! And you make it sound like it's easy to tell like it's a bad thing."

"How does it sound like it's a bad thing."

Before Hana could respond, the other girl made an "ahem" sound. "Well," she said, condescendingly. "If you ask me, it just sounds like she thinks being all-magic is the bad thing here. What's wrong with being pure-blooded?"

"I didn't say it was wrong?" Hana replied, dumbfounded she even asked the question. "What does that have to do with what he said?"

The girl giggled again, this time with a bit of a squeak. She pushed past Hana and Abby. "Well, it's just that if there's something so wrong with us pure-bloods picking out a noborn in a crowd," she stepped up onto the landing, and faced Hana. "Then there's clearly something wrong with us, right?"

A couple kids that were standing in front of Hana and Abby moved back, making Hana move forward a bit.

"My name is Darby, by the way? Darby Fischer."

"Funny," Hana said. "I don't think I asked." She crossed her arms.

Roddy leaned forward. "Hana, really, you don't-"

"Yeah, _Hana_ ," Darby said. "Really, _don't_." She crossed her arms, seemingly mocking Hana's stance. "Because you wouldn't want to pick a fight with the wrong kinds of people. But I'm willing to put that behind me, if you are. After all, some people just aren't worth it." She glanced briefly at Roddy, and Hana could feel the glance. "You can pick _them_ out in a crowd."

Hana glared at Darby, then smirked. "Yeah, some people aren't worth it."

Darby raised her eyebrows.

"Picked one out just now." Hana winked, then moved backward, looping her arms through Roddy and Abby's.

Darby pursed her lips and her face turned red.

One of the double doors opened with a loud creak and Darby jumped. She hurried back into the crowd and Miss West came out, smiling widely.

"We're ready for you now, follow me." She turned, and pushed the stone double doors with ease, opening up to a grand granite and marble cupola chamber.

The crowd of first-years followed inside after her, marveling at the grandeur of the chamber. The columns stood tall and rigid, carved with an assortment of American magical creatures. The floor was paved and polished with a reddish marble and ringed designs etched into a circle that spanned the entirety of the chamber. An ornate, glittering chandelier hung from he ceiling past a circular second-story mezzanine. Hana looked up and could see the older students watching from the mezzanine.

"This way, kids. This way."

Hana looked back to Miss West, who was now standing still near the center of the chamber, point and gesturing to the right of the crowd and toward a short corridor that was off to the side of the cupola chamber. Hana looked behind Miss West and could see a circular platform decorated in mahogany and a violet ornamental rug. Standing at its center was a mahogany and golden-ladened perch, holding an incredibly thin pedestal that had, at its tip, what looked like a small golden brooch.

At each corner of the circular part of the chamber was a wooden statue. One seemed to look like a panther or mountain lion with a long, whip-like tail and six legs. Another looked like one of the hairy creatures Hana had seen already here on the grounds. Another was clearly a snake with a horn-shaped head with spikes on it as well as its long, winding tail. The fourth was a large bird, it seemed to resemble an eagle and glittered the most of the statues - its wings were spread big and wide.

The students made their way to the right of the cupola and into the relatively small corridor, that seemed to lead into a tower. Several people who looked like school staff were at the edge of the corridor's cut-off from the tower area.

"Now," a deep, masculine voice shouted from the corridor's entrance into the cupola. Hana looked toward the source and saw a man in a deep cranberry mortarboard robe with a beige executive suit peeking underneath. The robe was being held together by what seemed to be an intricately woven knot, one that resembled the brooch on the middle of the cupola chamber. His hair was a bright blond, gelled and combed neatly. His eyes were a piercing sharp blue, and his gaze was cool and steely as he watched the corridor fill with students. "Before we begin the Godrian Sorting Ceremony, each student called will have to come up behind me to collect their wand."

A person in a sharply-fashioned executive suit sitting at a long wooden table behind the man, cluttered with rows and columns of narrow wooden boxes, stood up awkwardly and waved slightly before quickly sitting back down.

The man turned briefly to the person, then turned back to the students. Hana made a note that he seemed to be about the same age as Jeremy, krazy kab driver, if not maybe a few years younger. When the corridor had been filled by every last student. He nodded his head, then pulled out a long scroll from within his robe. He held the scroll steady, reading it carefully.

He called out, shushing the murmuring voices, even from above in the mezzanine. "Jonah Baccnadaes!" His voice echoed throughout the chamber. A boy came out of the crowd, his skin was copper and his short helmet-hair was black, and was guided by an old-looking pale skinned man in brown robes that made him look like he was wearing a sack, toward the long wooden table.

As the man in cranberry robes made to call out another name, Jonah had already started with his wand testing, apparently blowing something up in front of the person in the executive suit. "Nope!" They shouted, and snatched the wand from Jonah.

The man cleared his throat and continued. "Rodrigo Salvatore!"

Roddy tensed and barely moved forward until Hana and Abby pushed him forward.

The old man guided him to the table.

"This is so exciting!" Abby whispered to Hana as the man continued to call names.

When Jonah came to the middle of the cupola and up to the golden brooch at its center, the statue of the panther moved its slender shoulders and roared. Miss West called out that Wampus had selected him, and urged him toward the statue when none of the other statues moved. Claps and cheers came from above in the mezzanine.

"Ronan Eilonwy!"

Ronan, who was at the far side of the crowded first-years, moved out and toward the old man. Ronan looked back at Hana briefly before continuing on to the table of wands. There were murmurs and whispers when his name had been called, even some of it could be heard from the mezzanine. Hana rolled her eyes.

Roddy moved forward toward the center, placing his hand on the brooch just as Jonah did. There seemed to be an almost immediate reaction by both the Wampus statue and the statue of the hairy creature across the chamber from it. The creature's statue made a chirping noise and pounded the staff it was holding twice on the ground. The reactions startled Roddy.

After a moment of pause, Miss West announced that both Wampus and Pukwudgie had chosen him. Hana couldn't see his face, so couldn't see what his expression was, but she imagined he was a bit surprised at realizing that Wampus had shown interest in him. But Roddy nodded, taking his hand off the brooch, and made his way toward the Pukwudgie statue. Claps and cheers came from above the mezzanine.

After having called several names already, another familiar name to Hana had been called by the man: "Abigail Illis!"

Two boys voices could be heard cheering and whistling from the mezzanine as Abby came forward. She winced and sighed, following the old man's gestures. Hana smiled, figuring the cheers were coming from her older brothers.

As Abby finally got her turn to try out her wand, Ronan made his way to the center of the cupola. After placing his hand on the brooch, it took a couple of minutes until the Pukwudgie statue made its motion, its chirps echoed as the reality sunk in. Whispers began to sound, and even Hana seemed intrigued. Then, the Wampus statue roared, and the whispers died down somewhat.

After a moment of waiting, Miss West announced he had been chosen by both Pukwudgie and Wampus, and to decide between the two. Ronan took his hand off the brooch, and seemed to be thinking deeply about this decision.

Hana raised an eyebrow, curious as to why he hesitated. He had been so eager to talk openly about being a Wampus in Saglant Square, and about being descended from a long line of Wampuses. She could hear whispers increasing around her until she saw Ronan turn sharply toward the Wampus statue. Claps and cheers came from above the mezzanine.

Eventually, it was Abby's turn to go up to the brooch, and when she placed her hand onto it, the eagle statue gave a piercing caw and flapped its wings. After a moment, Miss West announced she had been chosen by Thunderbird. Claps and cheers came from above the mezzanine as she made her way toward the statue. A couple of those cheers seemed to come from rambunctiously louder boys yelling "Woo, Abby! Wooooo!"

Hana could imagine that Abby's face was red like a tomato.

"Hana Dow!"

She stopped grinning and suddenly her vision tunneled. It was her turn to go up. She walked forward slowly and toward the old man as the man in cranberry robes looked her, then did a double take - as though he thought he saw something else. His eyes lingered on her, his brows furrowed like he was confused by something. Then he shook his head and continued calling out names.

"This way, girl," the old man said. Hana thought he looked old, but then again she thought anyone older than twenty was old. Really, he just seemed to have salt and pepper hair, a receding hairline, and small glasses on the rim of his nose. His face seemed stoic - it betrayed no level of emotion and he waved her toward the table distractedly.

She came up to the long table with stacks of boxes with wands. The lady in the executive suit smiled at her. "Hello, Hana is it?"

Hana nodded.

"Ready to get your wand?"

Hana nodded again, vigorously.

The lady laughed. She picked up a box right next to her, opened it and presented it. It was a modest size, and very light-colored with some coral etched into an elaborate design much like Miss West's wand. " Cypress, dragon heartstring with coral."

Hana picked it up, and the lady pushed forward an apple.

"Just point to it and flick your wrist toward it."

"That's it?"

The lady nodded. "That's it."

Hana did as instructed.

The apple exploded, spraying apple mush all over the table.

"Okay… No… Not that one…" The lady quickly took the wand from Hana's hand and placed it back into its box. She pushed the box away and picked out another one on her right side from a stack on the far right. She opened it at presented it to Hana. "Here, try this one." It was reddish brown-colored with an ornate grip. "Redwood, wampus hair mixed laced with rougaru hair. A tough combination, but I think you can crack it."

Hana picked up. When the lady put another apple in front of her, she flicked her wrist toward it. All of the lady's papers flew up and away from the table and some of the boxes flew off as well. It made the student that went up to the brooch jump when some of the boxes flung toward her.

"Nope, definitely not!" She took the wand from Hana and put it back into its box. She mumbled something under her breath as she got up to recollect her papers.

"I can help…" Hana motioned to start picking up some of the papers.

"No! No, I got it! Just stay there!"

"Is everything okay?" The man in cranberry robes said, turned toward them.

"Yes, Mr. Oleander, everything is fine!" The lady said. "This one's just a bit too flourished and forceful in her magical talents. Needs some more channeling in her…" Her words stopped and she sat back down. "Maybe…" She pursed her lips and whirled around, picking up a box from underneath the table. "Told myself I was just kidding when I packed this. There hasn't been a student that benefited from a Thunderbird feather in years." She opened the box and pulled the wand out. It was a darker brown color with a simple grip and a polished body. "Bur oak wood, Thunderbird tailfeather. Very powerful, and very delicate, be gentle with it, sweetie."

Hana picked it up, and looked intently at it. It didn't seem too showy, at least not as showy as the other wands did. It actually seemed very plain. Yet still, Hana could feel an odd aura coming off of it, an alluring one, a feeling that seemed welcoming to her. The minute the lady placed the apple in front of her, the apple floated an inch off and Hana could feel a rush of wind blow past her, the wand vibrating briefly before the apple floated back down.

The lady nodded. "That's it. It's a great honor to hold a wand with an aura like that. It's a great channel for great wizards and witches. Congratulations."

Hana looked at her simple-looking wand as she was guided by the shoulders to her left toward the line of students going up to the brooch. She felt its power, she wasn't sure how to describe how she could. She simply did.

As she reached the edge of the chamber, she looked up, bringing her wand down to her side. As soon as the little boy in front of her had been sorted into Horned Serpent, beckoned by the snake statue, Miss West nodded to her and waved her forward. Hana walked up to Miss West.

"Having wand issues?" Miss West whispered, then chuckled. "You're finally here!"

"I know," Hana held her wand up. "Mine has a Thunderbird feather in it!"

"Ooh," Miss West said. "That's rare, been awhile since I've seen somebody with a wand like that." Miss West guided Hana toward the centerpiece. She gestured toward it. "Alright, Hana. Now go up to the Gordian Knot brooch. Place your hand over it, and let the houses choose you."

Hana nodded and walked up to the brooch. She took in a deep breath, let it out, then reached out. She took it in the palm of her hand, and then closed her fingers around it. She closed her eyes at first until she started to hear whispers inside her head.

 _Mmm. Another girl from the west._ One voice said, hissing.

 _She's powerful._ Another said gruffly. _I admire that raw, untapped power._

 _She also has fairness._ This voice was nasally. _She's very outspoken, very independent._

 _We do like those that can stand up for themselves._ A smooth, elegant voice said. _Even more so if they stand up for others._

 _I can also see she's a clever girl, she sees more than most people think she does._ The hissing voice said.

 _But we must all make a decision about her._ The elegant voice said.

 _Yes, we do._ The nasally one said.

 _We can all choose to have her._ The gruff one said.

 _But may that be wise for any of us?_ The hissing one said.

All four of the voices muttered an agreement.

Then there was silence.

Hana blinked and looked up, looked around the chamber, and looked to Miss West.

Miss West was looking at her intently, and even Mr. Oleander had stopped reading the names aloud. Everybody was looking directly at Hana.

Hana turned a bit before Miss West shook her hand to stop.

"What?" Hana said. "What?"

"Just stay there," Miss West whispered. "Do not take your hand off the Gordian Knot. This hasn't happened in ages."

"What hasn't?"

"It's been ten minutes."

"Ten minutes?"

"Yes, it usually just takes five minutes for the houses to make a decision, max."

Hana raised an eyebrow. "How long can it last?"

Miss West tilted her head and scrunched up her face. "Um…" She squinted. "Two hours."

"Two hours?!"

"BUT! I am _sure_ it will not take two hours for them to decide."

They waited for another five minutes.

"They still haven't decided!" Hana said.

"Just be patient, Hana-"

The Wampus statue roared and everyone jumped.

Hana looked at Roddy who seemed sad at this revelation.

"Oh, dear! Okay, well there you go, so Wampus House has-"

The Horned Serpent statue hissed and the tip of its forehead glowed, its body slithering slightly.

Miss West paused for a moment, then nodded. "So Wampus House and-"

The Thunderbird statue cawed and flapped its wings.

Whispers and mutterings came from all over the chamber, even among the staff. What happened? Hana wasn't sure why this was a big deal, dozens of students had been chosen by Thunderbird.

"Um…" Miss West said. "So… Wa-"

The Pukwudgie statue chirped and motioned with its staff.

The gasps and whispers of students and teachers rang out everywhere. Hana was getting nervous about the gawking and the attention.

"Alright…"Miss West began walking to the center, looking and gesturing around to everyone in the chamber to quiet down. "Alright now, everybody just calm down. She _is_ only going to just _one_ house at the end of this. Just simmer down." She walked up to Hana. "Hana, sweetie you can let go of the knot now." She whispered into her ear.

Hana let go of her grip, her knuckles were almost white from her tightly she was gripping it. She turned and looked up at Miss West. "Now what do I do?"

"Pick one."

"From all four? I thought I was just gonna get two at most. And apparently this is a big deal to everybody-"

Miss West shook her head. "No, Hana, don't…" She waved her hands. "Don't think about everyone else. This choice has nothing to do with 'em. It's all about you."

Hana chuckled. "Yeah that makes me feel better."

"Hana," Miss West crouched down to her eye level. "You have an opportunity most people don't have. You have an open road to walk down. Every lane is your lane. All you have to do is pick one and go. Don't think about it." Miss West stood back up and backed away slowly. "Just do it."

Hana let a breath go she didn't realize she had been holding in. She turned and looked at each of the houses. She looked at the children her age at the base of those statues. She saw a sea of faces. She could also make out Abby with the Thunderbirds, Roddy with the Pukwudgies, and Ronan with the Wampuses. She then thought of her mother - and for some reason the woman from one of summer dreams came to mind. She saw her and thought she wanted to be like her. What would this woman, maybe her mother, a practical stranger, what would she have picked?

Yet, something inside her was calling. Drawing her to a specific image in her sight. Guiding her feet toward the statue. She didn't quite know how to describe it, but she just knew it was a part of her. A voice in her head telling her it's where she was meant to go. The road she had to travel. The journey she had to take.

She made her way, slowly, hesitant at first, toward the Thunderbird statue and claps and cheers came from above the mezzanine. The students at Thunderbird also cheered her on and Abby hugged her tightly. "Wowie, really?! You picked Thunderbird?"

"Yeah," Hana said. She shrugged. "Something just told me to."

"Look," Abby said, pointing to her Ilvermorny pin, which was now different. In the middle, surrounded by flourished letters stating "ILVERMORNY ACADEMY FOR MAGIC & SPELLCRAFT", was a crest with a thunderbird on it. "The pin changes depending on which houses chose you and which you picked. Look at yours!"

Hana looked down at her pin and could see it had changed as well. The middle was the Thunderbird crest, but on the right side of the crest was a smaller crest with a Wampus, on the left was a Horned Serpent, and on the bottom was a Pukwudgie. Hana marveled at her new pin design.

After Hana were still several more students. She and Abby managed to stay together, but she lost Roddy in her sights as more kids gathered around the Thunderbird and Pukwudgie statues. The annoying girl, Darby, was only chosen by Wampus so she went to that house. There was another boy that came close to being chosen by all the houses like Hana, but he only stopped at three - and like Hana she chose Thunderbird. She didn't catch his name, though. At that point a lot of the students already sorted began intermingling and talking over each other so it was hard to hear what name Mr. Oleander was calling on the other side of the chamber.

Once all the students were sorted, Miss West and Mr. Oleander announced the first feast of the school year would be commencing in the Feast Hall. The staff ushered the first years down the corridor across from the corridor the students got their wands and toward a curved wall with wide double doors. They all walked through the double doors and entered a large, circular banquet hall with dozens and dozens of round, wooden tables.

At one end of the room was a long table with large throne-like seats around it. Some of the staff made their way to this table, and an old, withered man with a long grey beard wearing red and gold robes and a saggy red hat was sitting at one of the throne chairs in the middle of the table. The table was near a staircase that followed closely to the rounded edges of the room and went up to a second floor balcony that disappeared into a corridor. Hana presumed this room was the base of the big turret-looking tower she saw when they first hiked up to the castle. She saw some of the older students make their way out of the corridor and onto the balcony, heading for the stairs to come down and join the feast.

"Now," Miss West shouted. "First-years! There are no designated house tables, you are all free to sit with whoever you like, if you made any friends on the train and you're not in the same house don't worry! You can still sit together! It's just dinner, after all." She waved the students off and the students immediately bolted, gravitating more towards the older students that were waving over other students from their houses.

"Here, Hana," Abby tapped her on the shoulder. "The Thunderbirds are mostly sitting in that corner."

Hana nodded, then noticed Roddy sitting at a table by himself. It was on a side of the room furthest back from the teachers' table and seemed situated farther from most of the other tables. Hana skipped over to the table and smiled at Roddy. Abby followed her when she noticed Hana wasn't going toward the Thunderbirds.

"Hey," Hana said.

"Oh hey," Roddy said, quietly.

"Why are you sitting all by yourself? Why don't you go with the other Pukwudgies?"

"Um…" Roddy looked at a couple of the other tables Hana assumed were his house.

Hana looked to them and saw they were all very full, she imagined he tried to sit with them but just couldn't fit. "Oh." She turned back to Roddy.

Roddy shrugged. "Besides, I don't really know anyone. You didn't pick Pukwudgie." He winced after he said that. "Sorry, that's not fair."

"It's fine," Hana said. "You could get to know them."

Roddy shrugged. "Talking is hard for me, you know that. I'm not really the 'make friends' person."

"There's still some room with the Thunderbirds, I think," Abby said.

Hana looked at the corner of the room where the Thunderbirds were mostly located. "Hmm." She shrugged and sat down next to Roddy. "Yeah but I don't want Roddy to sit alone."

Abby shrugged. "Okay, I guess." She sat down next to Hana.

"Really?" Roddy said. "You guys wanna sit next to me instead of with your houses?"

"Sure," Hana said. "Miss West said we didn't have to sit with 'em."

"Yeah," Abby added. "Besides, you're also our friend. You shouldn't have to sit alone."

Roddy smiled, exposing a little gap in his front teeth. He chuckled. "Thanks, guys."

As the tables began to fill, a couple of stragglers that hadn't found anywhere to sit, especially some older students, made their way to their table. A couple of stray Horned Serpents came by, one Wampus student and a fair number of Thunderbirds and Pukwudgies joined them. One of them was an auburn-haired teenage boy with a lean torso and an angular face. He smiled brightly as he approached the table and surprised Abby by tickling her in her sides.

Abby laughed, then groaned as he took a seat next to her. She turned to Hana and Roddy. "Guys, this is my brother Jaime." The other two smiled and waved at him. "He's in fifth year." She turned to Jaime. "Jaime, this is Hana and Roddy. I met them on the train."

Jaime nodded to them. "Hi! Nice to meet ya. Good to know my sister's already made some new friends and school hasn't even started yet."

Abby turned to her friends. "Apparently he's been made a prefect this year."

"And, I'm co-captain of the quodpot team this year, too. Don't worry, I swear you guys can get some of the perks of knowing a prefect _and_ a captain." He winked.

"What are those perks? Not getting detention if we get caught 5 minutes past curfew? Getting a twenty-percent discount at the concession stand at the quodpot pitch?" Abby teased, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Well, I swear there are!" A glass dinged from the teachers' table and the withered old man stood up and raised his hands. Jaime leaned in toward the three children as the noise of conversation died down. "That's the headmaster, Agilbert Fontaine. He's been headmaster since the 70s."

"He looks like he's about to pass out any moment," Roddy said.

"Yup, running a school for forty years'll do that to ya."

Roddy glanced at him and was about to say something until a couple of shushes cut him off.

Agilbert Fontaine waited for the whispers to cease before uttering a single world. "Before we begin our first of many feasts, a few start of term notices. First of them is a reminder many of our students are familiar with, to avoid Tower Thirteen as it is currently being renovated and vanquished of the phantasms that haunt its stairways and corridors."

Jaime leaned back to the children, his voice much more hushed. "It's always being renovated. There's too many phantasms in that tower to get rid of."

"Also," Fontaine continued. "The wyvern's lair in the dungeons is strictly forbidden to any who do not wish to die at its hands. Our groundskeeper Barnabas would also like to encourage students to freely explore the hiking trails in the Black Forest, but to remain on the path alone. While the forest is safe and has been cleared of many dangers to your lives, not everything is accounted for deep within the woods. Stay on the trail, and you will not die."

Several older students nodded and some murmured a show of respect. Hana and Roddy looked around flabbergasted. Even Jaime seemed somber.

"Another reminder made by our caretaker, Governor Wilson, to be mindful of curfew and of the awakule that have a tendency to be drawn to mischief at two in the morning. Also, to first-years if you wake up early and go out to the big courtyard and see mists glowing in strange iridescent colors never seen on this earth, filling your heart with dread and your mind with images of things best left forgotten, don't worry about it. It's just Lucy. You can walk through the mist, it's fine." He nodded, then sat down in his seat and raised a goblet in the air. "Let the feast begin!"

Just as dinner at the magical ward house, the food immediately appeared at the center of the tables. This time, though, the food was bigger, richer. Pounds and pounds of hams and turkeys, alongside buckets of fried chicken and pots of mashed potatoes, green peas, macaroni and cheese, plates with heaping helpings of wok and fried rice, spaghetti and lasagna, even some plates had piles of hamburgers and hot dogs and pizza. Hana, of course, dug in.

As the feast went on, several of the hairy creatures, which Hana knew now were the actual Pukwudgie creatures, came out to replace the plates and the bowls and the buckets with more helpings of food. Several ghostly apparitions floated in from all sides. At first Hana jumped, thinking they were phantasms, but realized they didn't look nearly as zombie-like, but more like people - grey and wispy though.

One female apparition in a flowing gown and her hair braided in a viking braid floated past their table and nodded. "How do you do?" She said, regally.

"Hello, Ms. Frieda." Jaime said.

"Well if it isn't Jaime Illis, spritely fellow." She turned to Abby. "And you must be the sister I hear so much about. I'm always happy to see an Illis attending school here. They're all the most daring in Thunderbird."

"I know you!" Roddy exclaimed, as though he'd caught a train of thought. "You're Frieda Morgenstern!"

Frieda turned to Roddy, smiling.

"Who?" Hana said.

"She's a patron of Thunderbird!" Roddy said. "One of the most famous and powerful warlocks of all time! She even founded the Tournament of Warlocks!"

"I'm flattered," Frieda said, a pep in her voice, "to have such a fan of my work, especially one whose house I'm no patron to. Most especially for one so young."

Roddy's cheeks reddened. "Well, there are a lot of books on you."

Frieda nodded to him, then to Hana, then to Abby and her brother. She floated away, making her way to the other tables.

Hana turned back to the others. "Patrons to the houses?"

Jaime shrugged. "That's just a title cause they're the most famous witches and wizards from those houses. Their ghosts haunt the grounds. You'll probably hear more about them eventually during a history class one year."

As the night drew a close, Agilbert Fontaine announced for prefects to guide first-years to the dormitories.

Jaime drummed his hands on the table and looked to Hana and Abby. "You guys ready?"

They nodded and hopped up, following him as he shouted for first-year Thunderbirds to follow him. Hana and Abby waved at Roddy, who waved back and quickly ran over to the Pukwudgie prefect.

A sea of young-wide-eyed students came and huddled around Jaime.

Jaime nodded. "Okay! Time to go!"

He turned and made his way to a set of wide double doors that led out into a granite-covered corridor. Through windows on the other side, it looked out to a vibrant-looking garden. Jaime and the Thunderbirds turned right and took the first left corridor. An entrance to the garden was on the left as they passed it.

"We're about to enter the sol wing for a little bit, that's where you'll find Responsive Magic in your schedules, which will be laying on your bedside table next to your beds in the common rooms. Also in the sol wing is the entrance to the Wampus dormitories."

As they came into a colonnade that seemed to be more of a single spacious chamber, they saw across the way an open lounge with a skylight above. They also saw a fireplace sitting area at the opposite end of the chamber and students hopping into the fire, completely disappearing. They made a right and entered a fairly narrow corridor.

Jaime pointed to the left as they passed a tall set of double doors. "This will be your Transformative Magic class."

Some of the kids "ooh'd" at this.

They turned and went up a large staircase that opened up to an open corridor with a mezzanine that looked down into a paved courtyard. Jaime turned and gestured for the students to follow, and they went up one of two staircases on either side of the staircase they just came up. Jaime led them through a wide entrance into a huge, lavish lounge area with stairs and entrance that led up into towers located at each corner of the building.

Jaime stood at another wide, opened entrance in the middle that led into another tower.

"This is, guys! Thunderbird Tower!" He gestured forward. "Quickly guys, come on."

All the students entered and saw the tower was huge, with a long winding staircase along the sides of the walls, as well as floating staircases leading to platforms that rose high up the tower. Some of these platforms were even going up and down, side to side. All of the first-years stopped dead as they looked above the tower.

Jaime laughed. "Don't worry, there's a trick to getting to the dorm." He gestured for everyone to follow him as he began climbing the winding staircase. "Someone's gotta show it to ya."

As they made their way up the staircase, Jaime stopped at a landing, then ushered everyone to get on a floating staircase that was coming by the landing. As soon as everybody got onto the staircase, it moved, coming toward a still platform. They all gathered onto a platform, and Jaime told them to get ready to get on a platform that was gliding toward the one they were standing on. They did as he instructed.

Suddenly another platform came up from below beside the new platform, and Jaime ushered them to get on before either platforms moved again. As soon as they got onto the new platform, it shot up, passing by rows and rows of the winding staircase. Soon, it came to a slow as a moving, floating staircase came by and the students rushedly got onto it. The platform shot back down and the staircase moved itself to a landing that had an ornately golden designed set of double doors. Jaime walked up to the door, knocked three times and shouted "Pickled ferret".

The double doors opened and the students came into a small squared part of a much bigger room. The feeling of a cool breeze swept them up. Jaime led them up a small set of stairs and into the rest of the room, which overlooked the entry of the common room by a granite-and-marble polished banister.

The rest of the room was made of limestone and cherrywood, with gold covering almost every inch of the place as well. A fireplace rested to the left of the entrance, across the room was a hollowed out nook with bookcases and a long table where some students were doing homework already. To the right seemed to be entrances to two sets of bathrooms. In the center of the room was a large, crystal globe with dots lighting certain areas of the globe. A lot of dots were concentrated on America, Canada, and Mexico, but some dots were highlighted at other parts of the globe, particularly in Europe, China, Japan, and in some Middle Eastern countries.

A staircase to the left following the curve of the wall led up to a landing and balcony above the nook with bookcases. Jaime pointed to them and said they led to the boys' and girls' dormitories. Several older students that had already begun taking up places to sit around the common room said hello to the first-years and talking about their homework assignments they were given over the summer (and had yet to even start).

Hana looked at the globe, puzzled by it.

"It's based on country of origin," Jaime said, as Hana turned to him. "Both for students in Ilvermorny born in America, as well as where their families come from. A lot of European ancestry for some of us."

Hana nodded up to the globe. "And what about China and stuff?"

"Foreign exchange programs. We're popular in Asia."

* * *

Later that night, Hana and Abby stayed up talking excitedly. Hana had found her schedule for class in a couple of days right where Jaime said she would. Both she and Abby had Magizoology, Charms, and Transformative Magic together. Hana asked for a clarification on some of the classes.

"Transformative Magic means we'll be learning like, transfiguration and stuff," Abby said.

Hana shook her head. "Still don't know what that means."

"Basically like using our magic to turn objects into something else, making statues and stuff move, animating things and casting complicated enchantments on rooms and animals and stuff. I think they even help teach us how to become an animagus."

Hana blinked at her. "A. What."

Abby laughed and shook her hand. "Baby steps, Hana."

"Right," Hana chuckled. "Responsive Magic?"

"Using magic to cast offensive and defensive spells. You know, learning to use magic in the case of an emergency."

"Oh cool." Hana scanned her schedule. "Ooh! Alchemical magic? We're gonna learn to do anime stuff?"

"Don't know what anime is, but alchemy is just using the elements and nature and stuff to do magic and spellcraft. And before you ask, Magizoology is studying magical creatures."

"Actually I knew that. You know - "magic", "zoo", I put two and two together."

"This is gonna be so much fun! Can't wait to find out what Roddy got!"

"I know!"

Lulu meowed and Hana realized he'd already managed to get out of his cage again. He strolled by the couch they were sitting on, hopped up and sat down on Hana's lap. He turned and looked at Abby, nodded and meowed an acknowledgement of her presence.

"Oh you brought a cat," Abby said, not hiding her disappointment well.

"Yeah, hey didn't you say you brought a dog, or something?"

"YES!" Abby practically screamed. She stood up. "I'll go get her!" She sped up the stairs fast. She'd been gone for barely two minutes until she had returned with a small, white Scottish terrier-looking dog, only at his rear were instead two, small wagging tails whipping into each other. "It's a crup, a special kind of magical dog. It's got two tails, super strength, a real nasty bite, and a loud sonic bark that breaks the sound barrier." She held up the little danger death dog up. Its eyes were wide and curious, its tongue flooped out with a hearty pant and looked at Hana gleefully and absentmindedly. She made smooching noises and looked at Hana. "Her name is Paprika." There was nothing about this dog to indicate that it should have been named Paprika.

"She's adorable!" Hana squealed. "Wait, what's a crup?"

"Well, like I said magical dog. Nothing too special. They were originally bred to identify and even attack no-majs but that's a long time ago." She held the crup up to her face. "Now the worst thing she does is bark like a siren, yes she does." Her voice changed as though she was referring to a baby. "Yes she does!" Paprika licked her face and Abby laughed.

Abby put Paprika onto the couch and it scuttled its little feet up to Hana, sniffing her leg and her elbow. She then rubbed her head over her leg as Hana then pet her. Paprika sniffed and licked Hana's arm, making her laugh at how much it tickled. Then Paprika noticed Lulu and hopped up her front paws onto Hana's lap. She leaned in to sniff Lulu, who swat at his snout and hissed.

"Lulu!" Hana said.

Lulu looked up at her.

"Be nice to Paprika, she ain't doin' nothing to you!"

Lulu meowed several syllables as if he was stating his case.

"Don't talk back to me."

Lulu stopped. Then he made what sounded like a huffing noise and looked back at Paprika, who was simply sitting upright panting with a dumb grin on her face. Lulu meowed and nodded to Paprika.

Paprika tilted her head, her ears perking up.

"Thank you, Lulu," Hana said.

Lulu made a muttering meow noise and looked at the fireplace.

"Your cat is weird," Abby said.

Lulu turned his head sharply and glared at Abby.

Hana patted him on the head. "We should go and get some sleep."

"You said it," Abby said.

They went to the girls' dormitory and Hana got ready for bed. She wasn't sure how she was going to sleep tonight, considering she felt as though her dreams were tied to the dreamcatcher - which she purposefully left at the ward house this time to test her theory out. If she had any dreams at all this time, she'd know that the dream with the dark figure and the strange man was real. That there was something weird going on with her life - she'd had the dreamcatcher ever since she was a baby and only until she forgot it at the orphanage did she start having dreams period.

She hadn't known a lot about where she came from - only that Mrs. Ringer and Ms. Brookes had found her on their doorstep with only an unsigned letter and a dreamcatcher. Ever since that dream at the magical ward house she began to wonder if there was more to her past than she realized. After all, she came from a magical family but was kept in a no-maj orphanage. Why? The dreamcatcher was proof, she thought, that there was something deeper. Possibly even something to do with the mysterious shadowy figure. And she knew for certain that Miss West had to have answers.

After all, Miss West was the one who seemed to even know she existed. Both the intern at the M.A.C.U.S.A. office and the Haymitch man seemed perplexed that Hana wasn't registered, or however they called it. Her dreams had also recalled something Hana felt was a memory - a memory of something bad. She wasn't sure how, but something was telling her Miss West knew something about her past. She even confirmed that her mother was a witch - a Thunderbird.

And now Hana was in Ilvermorny. She surely wanted to go a perfectly spectacular magical school to learn magic, but she also wanted to learn more about her family. Her mother. And in a school of magic, all things are possible. Maybe then it would be possible for her to finally find out who she really was, and what the Shadow Man had to do with it.


End file.
